The mission of the SCA is to collect, arrange, preserve, and make accessible the permanent records of the University as well as rare and unique collections that support the University's administration, teaching, research, and service, as well as communities documented in our collecting areas.
To accomplish this mission, SCA will:
Accept and arrange the materials of organizations and individuals that relate to subject matter of research and educational endeavors of the University.
Collect, preserve and make accessible permanent university records, rare books, and other cultural heritage materials that relate to the subject matter of research and educational endeavors of the Universityand communities documented in our collecting areas.
Provide reference and outreach services and make the collections available to researchers to support research, teaching, and lifelong learning.
Consult with community members as appropriate to ensure that the collections best represent the intended collecting mission and vision of SCA.
Vision and Values
Special Collections and Archiveswill:
Serve as an invaluable resource to communities both within the University, as well as locally, regionally, and internationally.
Provideoutstanding research support, access to collections, and innovative, critical pedagogy.
Skillfully curate materials relating to the collecting mission and vision of SCA.
Engage our communities in these efforts and be accountable to the communities we seek to document, recognizing that all memory work is inherently relational.
Special Collections and Archives Collection Policies
The University of Denver (DU) Special Collections and Archives (SCA) actively engages in donor stewardship and collection development in order to both document and preserve the records of the University of Denver (i.e., the University Archives) and the special collections that make up the remainder of the collections in our purview. Comprised of fourdistinct archival repositories – the Beck Archives, The Dance Archive, Manuscript Collections, and the University Archives -- SCA is a robust resource for research on the history of Jewish people in the Rocky Mountain region, Denver and DU, skiing, dance, cookery and foodways, fine and small press books, and the book arts.
This page provides guidance about SCA’s foundational commitments, including its mission, vision, and ethics. The document also provides information about factors related to resource allocation and other considerations that guide collection development decisions. SCA periodically reviews and updates the collection development policies and practices to ensure responsible stewardship, alignment with the universityand libraries’ priorities, and current and projected researcher interest.
Special Collections and Archives' primary responsibility is to serve the research needs of the University of Denver's faculty and students, as well as communities documented in and represented by our special collections’ collecting areas. To this end, Special Collections and Archives seeks to collect scarce, rare, and unique materials in subject areas receiving substantial and sustained attention within the University or related to the local community, those representing ongoing departmental research interests, or those areas that are the focus of interdisciplinary programs.
The Curators of Special Collections and Archives are responsible foridentifying and acquiring collection materials. The Curators of the department complement their own subject expertise by consulting with resource specialists. The Curators of Special Collections and Archives are responsible for the general supervision and coordination of collection development activities.
SCA solicits gifts of materials from individuals and organizations. University alumni, faculty members, and other members of the University community may help in identifying potential donors, but gift acquisitions are ultimately at the discretion of the Curators, in consultation with appropriate librarians, administrators, and community members.
Acquisitions are also made through the purchase of items from the book trade, by way of auctions, and from private individuals or organizations with appropriate monetary appraisals and provenance documentation in place. Purchases are funded by endowment income, gifts, donations, and library appropriations.
Personal letters, photographs, diaries, or other similar self-publications (scrapbooks, etc.) where original, personal material predominates (i.e., not scrapbooks that are entirely or predominantly newspaper clippings).
Visual or audiovisual materials that document significant time periods or people in the person, family, or organization's history, where original material predominates.
Select three-dimensional objects that are significant to a person, family, or organization’s history (i.e., central to an understanding of the life and work, or business and operations) and which are a size, shape, and materials that can be stored in SCA’s collection storage and that we have the knowledge and expertise to properly preserve and make accessible.
Any permanently valuable materials that document individuals, communities, or populations who fall withinacollecting areabut are not well-represented within that collecting area.
Locally or regionally significant materials that align with our stated priorities within each collecting area.
Unaltered (no marginalia, signatures, etc.) published materials (print or digital) are widely available through other institutions or databases.
Material that requires permanent or very lengthy restrictions/embargoes (e.g., beyond the life of the creator)
Materials in formats that are permanently inaccessible due to obsolescence,are physically degraded to the point of inaccessibility, or that otherwise pose a danger to staff and patrons
Unsorted clippings
Blank forms
Any more than a few representative samples of “transactional” documents (invoices, receipts, checks, etc.)
Materials needingmore conservation than SCA can reasonably provide
Book collections that are not solicited, accompanied by an inventory or other description or documentation of the collection.
More than 2 copies of any unique publication (multiple editions of a publication may in some cases be accepted)
Publications that are widely held/not scarce in U.S. (i.e., WorldCatshows more than 10 copies held in U.S. libraries, and widely available via current booksellers)
The Dance Archive documents the history of dance in the Rocky Mountain region and the American West. Its mission is to advance education and engagement with resources across all genres of dance. The collecting area contains personal papers and organizational records with a focus on ballet, modern dance, and square, folk, and other forms of social dance.
This includes but is not limited to:
Personal and family papers of:
Dancers
Choreographers
Dance educators
Dance historians
Photographers, illustrators, and other artists who document dance
Journalists who cover dance and movement
Arts administrators who work regularly with dance and movement-based organizations and individuals
Philanthropists who work regularly with dance and movement-based organizations and individuals
Organizational records of:
Dance studios
Dance companies
Presenting organizations
Dance sponsorship and philanthropic organizations
In addition, per our departmental collecting policy, we seek rare or unique materials that have received "substantial and sustained attention within the University or related to the local community, those representing ongoing departmental research interests, or those areas that are the focus of interdisciplinary programs."
Highly Desired Materials
Personal or family papers of individuals and organizations in the field of dance who areunder-documented, under-represented, and under-supported by traditional venues and arts organizations. This includes but is not limited to:
People and organizations who create work based outside a traditional concert venue structure (i.e., place-basedor other site-specific works, movement-based performance art, etc.)
People and organizations whose dance forms are practiced or performed extensively in the Rocky Mountain region.
People and organizations whose dance works highlight bodies and movement styles that are outside dominantforms of dance (i.e., works created by/for dancers and performers with disabilities, that challenge the gender binary, and/or incorporate dance and movement language from communities in the global South)
Materials in our existing collection strengths (ballet, modern dance, folk, square, and social dance) that document communities not typically or historically represented in these dance forms
Materials TDA Will Accept
Materials that document dancers and dance organizations’ lives and work outside of their connection to dance and movement, provided that this life and work connects in some way to their work in dance and movement.
Materials TDA Does Not Accept
Scrapbooks or other accumulated materials (scrapbooks, clippings files, etc.) where original, personal material does not predominate (i.e., scrapbooks that are entirely or predominantly newspaper clippings, files containing only photocopies of widely available publications, etc.).
The University of Denver Manuscript Collections contains personal and family papers or organizational records that are not part of our other collecting areas.
This includes but is not limited to:
Personal and/or political papers of Colorado elected officials
Author's papers, particularly those working in creative writing and/or poetry
Select papers or records of University of Denver faculty, students, staff, alumni, or people or organizations with close ties to the University
Papers or records related to the history of the University Park neighborhood
Papers or records related to individuals or organizations represented in one of our other collecting areas (i.e., papers of book artists represented in our collection, papers of cookbook authors)
In addition, per our departmental collecting policy, we seek rare or unique materials that have received "substantial and sustained attention within the University or related to the local community, those representing ongoing departmental research interests, or those areas that are the focus of interdisciplinary programs."
Highly Desired Materials
Personal or family papers of DU students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members from the University Park neighborhood who are not well-represented in the Manuscript collections, particularly communities that have been marginalized and/or minoritized by race, gender, sexuality, class, etc.
Archival materials that document the response of people, organizations, and/or communities not in positions of power and/or authority to those in positions of power and/or authority (either within political papers collections or from individuals, families, or organizational records).
Materials SCA Will Accept
Materials that document faculty, staff, alumni, or community members’ lives and work outside of their connection to the University or the University Park neighborhood, provided that this life and work connects in some way to their relationship to the University or the neighborhood (i.e., an alumna who received a Journalism degree and then went on to work in radio and television).
Personal or family papers of faculty, staff, alumni, or community members connected to DU who are significant in their field or to society, even if that field is not connected to their degree(s) or field(s).
Materials SCA Does Not Accept
Scrapbooks or other accumulated materials (scrapbooks, clippings files, etc.) where original, personal material does not predominate (i.e., scrapbooks that are entirely or predominantly newspaper clippings, files containing only photocopies of widely available publications, etc.)
The University of Denver Archives contains materials that document the history, functions, and operations of the University of Denver (DU) from its founding in 1864 to the present. While faculty, student, alumni,and other personal and family papers from community members with ties to the University are not part of the official records of the University and are managed as part of our Manuscript collections, they also play an important role in documenting the impact of the University on the community and vice versa, and we actively collect them.
Materials include those produced by DU employees in the course of their work, materials documenting curricular and co-curricular programs and activities, the physical development of the campus, and the records of divisions and departments (both academic and administrative), etc.
Many of the terms for these functions, and the departments or divisions responsible for them,have changed names over time, and we welcome conversations about whether the records you have align with these functions.
Unless otherwise specified, the Archives seeks records that are final and summative (final reports, final meeting minutes, etc.), rather than drafts or transactional documents (invoices, drafts of reports, uncut footage, etc.). For more guidance, see the records retention schedule.
The University Archives seeks to document the following functions and operations:
Non-academic administration and governance.This includes but isn’t limited to:
Permanent records of the Board of Trustees
Chancellor’s office
University Counsel
Fundraising
Information technology
Compliance/audit
Business and financial operations
Institutional research
Athletics and recreation
Marketing and communications
Facilities
Campus life
Religious and spiritual life
Human resources
Records of governing bodies or committeesthat carry out or represent non-academic University functions(e.g., Staff Advisory Council, Administrative Council).
Academic administration and governance:This includes but isn’t limited to:
Permanent records of the Office of the Provost
Academic affairs
Registrar
Advising
Accreditation
Oversight/administration of research
Records/files from deans, directors, or chairs of divisions, centers, institutes, and departments
Records of governing bodies that carry out or represent academic University functions (e.g., Undergraduate Council, Faculty Senate, etc.).
Records that document these functions and operations can include, but are not limited to: