Affiliates and members of the COHDS community are encouraged to donate their oral history interviews and related documentation, as part of enlarging the current Oral History Archival Holdings at COHDS. Materials will be added to the collection and made available for consultation by affiliates, community members, and students during lab hours or designated archival hours. Affiliate materials donated to the COHDS Archives will be deeded to COHDS using our “Donation Agreement”, through which COHDS will gain the ability to house and reproduce the materials being donated. Archiving materials created by our affiliates and community is important because it allows others in the COHDS, Concordia, and Montreal community to see the wealth of history being collected by those connected to the Centre. Further, archiving materials ensures that these projects are not just created but are also preserved and made available for researchers and community members in the future. Lastly, donating materials to a public archive ensures that not only are the materials preserved but they are also made accessible to a wider audience than would be reached if project materials were maintained privately.

The minimum materials needed for donation to the COHDS archives is the oral history interview file(s) as well as the consent form(s) of all interviewees. After a brief consultation with a senior member of the Archives Team, a donation agreement would be filled out and donated materials would be entered into the archives for processing. Donations will be accepted during Archival Consultation Hours or by appointment which can be coordinating by emailing our Archives Team at cohds.chorn.archives@gmail.com.

In addition to the interview file(s) and consent form(s), other materials such as transcripts, ethics guides, interview guides, etc. can and should be donated as well. Though these materials aren’t mandatory additions to the donation, they will add more evidential and informational value to the materials. These supplementary materials will provide the context surrounding the interviews and the research project and therefore provide insight into the methodologies and the steps that lead to completion of the project. These supplementary materials will build on the history in  interviews donated and give future researchers and community members a glimpse into the thoughts, ideas, and justifications behind the creator who focused on the oral histories.

Once materials have been donated and a donation agreement has been signed, our archival team will apply a unique accession/reference number through which the donated materials can always be located at the COHDS archives and through the future COHDS archival database. The team will then arrange and describe the materials according to the Rules for Archival Description before making them available for consultation. Physical copies of archived materials will be held in the archives room and available for consultation during lab hours or designated archival consultation hours. Digital copies of archival material will also be made as COHDS transitions to use of digital archiving software. These digital copies will be accessible through the COHDS website in the near future.

Additional explanations of the above policies and any other questions about the archives at COHDS can be addressed to the Archives team at cohds.chorn.archives@gmail.com.

Consent Form Template

Donation Agreement