Placing records in our care

We are grateful to all the people who have passed their archives to the safekeeping of Hampshire Archives and are always interested to hear about records relating to Hampshire or Hampshire people. If you are considering donating your archives, or want some advice, please Contact us.

We follow our Collections Development Policy when deciding which documents to accept. Some key points are as follows:

• we want to develop our collections to ensure a continuing record of the county’s life and will seek to collect archives which are under-represented in our holdings
• we give advice to potential donors and depositors of archives to help them select records for transfer
• on receipt of records, we review them to ensure only those of historical importance are preserved, and we establish with the donor or depositor whether we have permission to return, transfer or dispose of any material that is not added to the archive.
• where documents relate only or mainly to Portsmouth or Southampton, they should be offered to the archives in those cities.

All our collections are described in our online catalogue. Documents may be listed in detailed or summary form. The online catalogue is updated regularly to include newly-deposited material and more detailed descriptions.

We make copies of records for public access. Increasingly these are digital and being made available online. Our online catalogue highlights those records which are available digitally and/or online, e.g. parish registers.

Some records have access restrictions under data protection and other legislation due to the sensitive and confidential information they contain. Other records may be restricted due to their fragile condition. Our online catalogues highlights where there are restrictions due to sensitivity or condition.

We also accept digital archives. These could be created electronically, including text, databases, video and photographs. Or they may be digital surrogates, such as scans of older photographs. We would prefer you to deposit original items rather than digital surrogates, where possible.

Our Digital Preservation Policy and Surrogacy Policy describe our approach to digital archives. If you would like to offer digital archives, please tell us more, complete the Digital-born archives - initial depositor offer form.