Hartford History Center
Gifts and Acquisitions
To document the history, literature and culture of Hartford, the Hartford History Center is interested in acquiring material including monographs, manuscripts, archives, maps, photographs, scrapbooks, and other organizational records regarding Hartford, works by Hartford authors, and works published in Hartford.
The Hartford History Center collects material in all subject areas, with no chronological limitations, and with particular emphasis given to ethnic and neighborhood histories, city development, education, business and literary history and architecture. The Hartford History Center collects materials primarily in English, but also accepts those languages well represented in our community, particularly Spanish.
The Hartford History Center will not generally accept materials that do not have a connection to Hartford, materials that duplicate the collections of other institutions, duplicates of materials already in the Hartford History Center unless the item is of superior condition to existing holdings, materials that are in unstable or in severely deteriorated physical condition, three dimensional objects, and anything else deemed inappropriate to the collection.
The Hartford History Center recognizes that other institutions collect in the same or overlapping areas, and will seek to acquire similar unique resources for their own collections. The Hartford History Center also recognizes that other institutions may have prior claim on such materials or be a more appropriate repository to house them. Opportunities to acquire such materials, as well as those not covered by the Hartford History Center collection policy, will be referred to an appropriate repository. In cases where the legitimate collecting interests of the Hartford History Center and another institution directly conflict, the Hartford History Center will use the best interest of the community as a criterion in pursuing a resolution.