Depositing Records with Cumbria Archives

Cumbria Archives is pleased to accept documents relating to all aspects of life in Cumbria into the safe-keeping of one of its four Archive Centres and to give advice to owners of documents about the preservation of material within their care.

What records are of interest to Cumbria Archives?

Any sort of original record - whether it be handwritten or word-processed document, a photograph, audio cassette, CD or digital record - which will tell future generations about life in Cumbria in the past or today. If you have responsibility for the records of an official body, such as a church, school or parish council, or a social or community group, or if you are an individual with a collection of material relating to your family, town or village or workplace why not consider placing it in the custody of Cumbria Archives?

What are the advantages to you?

The benefits to the donors and depositors of archives in our care include the assurance that their records will be stored in specialised conditions conducive to their long-term survival, that they will be sorted and listed by professional archivists and, where necessary and resources allow, repaired and conserved.

In addition, the records will be made available, in carefully supervised conditions, to the general public free of charge (of course, we recognise that some material will contain sensitive or confidential information and in such cases we would undertake to ensure that these records remain unavailable for public consultation for an agreed number of years).

There is normally no charge for preserving records judged to be of historical interest. We ask that potential donors and depositors do the following:
1. Read our Terms of Donation and Deposit (PDF 139KB) for full details for donating or depositing records with us.
2. Prepare your records by consulting our guide: Preparing Your Collection: Guidance for Depositors and Donors (PDF 90KB)
3. Use our online deposit enquiry form to let us know about your records
4. You can also make an appointment with the relevant Cumbria Archive Centre.