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Donating Your Materials to the Carnegie Mellon University Archives

Donate your materials to the University Archives

The Carnegie Mellon University Archives are the official repository for Carnegie Mellon’s intellectual, cultural, and administrative history. We steward the collective memory of our institution, and we strive to reflect our community's diverse experiences and contributions. We make legacy possible at Carnegie Mellon by collecting, preserving, and providing access to materials of the university that have lasting historical value in all formats digital and analog.


To form a complete record of life at Carnegie Mellon University, we gather a wide range of materials from

Click on the links above to better understand the types of materials we collect. Archivists work closely with administrators, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates throughout the donation process.


When in doubt, please do not throw it out!

Contact us we would be happy to assist.

How to Proceed

Interested in donating materials to us? Not sure what we collect? Contact us for a consultation with an archivist.

The archives team is available to evaluate the historical/research value of your donation and walk you through the process of transferring it to the University Archives.

When you contact us, please include

  • a brief description
  • the format(s) of the material
  • an approximate estimate of the amount (eg. number of boxes or gigabytes)
  • an approximate date range covered
  • any other information that may be helpful for understanding the significance of the material

The University Archives also welcome financial gifts. These donations support the work of archivists as we preserve and promote CMU's legacy. To support our work, visit our giving page.