Donating Your Records
History is written from the perspective of those who preserve their records. Therefore, LGBTQ-RAN strongly encourages all leaders and organizations in LGBTQ+ religious movements to take steps to preserve their paper and digital records for donation to an appropriate repository.
LGBTQ-RAN created the Archiving Toolkit to clarify the process of gathering historical records and donating them to an archives. The Toolkit is divided into easily understood sections with step-by-step instructions and answers to frequently asked questions.
For a quick, "how-to" overview of the entire process from start to finish, see Four short introductory videos.
The Guide to Preserving Historical Records consists of 17 pages of information about identifying what records you have that are historical and the process of donating them to an archives.
The guide Archiving Digital Content presents simple step-by-step procedures to preserve digital files for eventual donation to an archives. Digital records include emails, digital images, and social media that require regular pro-active steps to maintain the integrity of their content.
For an introduction to archiving online content, watch our webinar “Off of the Screen, Into the Archives”. It includes information on using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to preserve websites across time.
These concise documents from the Society of American Archivists are also helpful for paper and digital records:
Privacy versus Access to Your Archival Records
Some LGBTQ+ religious organizations have been concerned about personal privacy and confidentiality of information in their records. LGBTQ-RAN provides detailed information about these matters in Guidelines on Restricted Access to Archival Records.
Contact us with any questions or assistance needed regarding donating your personal papers or organizational records at archivist@lgbtqreligiousarchives.org.