Donate records

Many of the records held by SFU Archives come from private donors. We welcome inquiries from faculty, students, staff, alumni, organizations, and members of the general public wishing to donate records. Through your generous donations, we are able to build our holdings and preserve and make available your stories, memories, and achievements for future generations. Contact us to contribute.

Private Records Acquisition Policy

Learn more about the types of records we acquire from private individuals and organizations.

How to donate to the Archives

Everything you need to know about donating your records.

After you've donated

After you donate your records to the Archives, an archivist arranges and describes them according to Canadian archival standards. Descriptions are entered into SFU AtoM, our online database, where researchers can discover them from anywhere in the world.

Paper-based records are physically processed into acid-free storage materials and stored in our secure, climate-controlled vault. Special media records, such as audiovisual material, are digitized for long-term preservation. The resulting digital files, along with any born-digital material such as email or Word documents, are preserved using Archivematica software. Learn more about our Digital Preservation program here.

Once the records are processed, they are made available for research in the Reading Room, subject to any access restrictions you may have placed on the material. See our Access Policy for a high-level statement of the Archives' access commitments, including our management of copyright issues and our commitment to protection of privacy.

An archivist physically rehouses records into acid-free materials during processing.

An example of a fully processed donation: the Dallas Smythe fonds, F-16.

Our vault storage is designed to accomodate records of various formats.

Our secure storage vault is temperature- and humidity-controlled to help prevent materials from deteriorating.

Fully processed records are made available for research in our Reading Room, subject to any restrictions that might apply.

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The impact of your materials

Each record in the Archives preserves knowledge to impact research and discovery for years to come. When a fonds or collection is donated, it brings new perspectives to the historical record, filling in gaps and encouraging new scholarship and dialogues.

Material donated to the Archives is used for teaching and learning within the University and beyond, and provides unique primary source material for research and creative projects produced by students, faculty and other scholars and members of the general community.

Published research using archival resources

Records from SFU Archives' holdings have provided source material for a number of published works, including books and theses, documentaries, journal and newspaper articles, and exhibitions. Explore all Published Research.

Jay Triano on Terry Fox

In 2011, TSN visited the SFU Archives as part of researching this award-winning piece on the relationship between NBA Coach and SFU Alumnus Jay Triano, and Canadian hero and SFU Alumnus Terry Fox. Several of the archival photos used in the segment have been copied from SFU's archival holdings.