Donations & Acquisitions

The Centenary College Archives gladly accepts donations of materials that enhance our current collections, especially materials relating to Centenary College, the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the North Louisiana Historical Association. The Archives may also accept items that do not fall within the parameters of our current collections, but are of particular historical value.

The Archives reserves the right to decline donations that are, for any reason, unsuitable to the collection. The Archives also reserves the right to properly dispose of materials, after donation, that are likewise considered unsuitable to the collection.

It would be impossible to enumerate all types of material that are—or are not—suitable to the furtherance of our collections. With this in mind, we strongly encourage potential donors to contact us so we can work with them to determine whether or not their materials are of continuing historic and/or scholarly interest, and therefore appropriate for deposition with the Centenary Archives.

Below are some types of materials that may be of value to the Archives. However, this list is not comprehensive; it is intended only to offer a general guideline to the types of materials that may have historical or scholarly merit.

Personal Papers - May include letters, diaries, professional papers, biographical information, and photographs.

Institutional Records - May include correspondence, publications, minutes, by-laws, financial and legal documents, architectural plans, and photographs.

The materials that are deposited with the Archives by the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church provide an excellent example of the types of institutional records accepted by the Archives. The following is a list of such items that are routinely accepted. Please keep in mind that this list is not comprehensive, and should be viewed only as a general guideline:

  • Records of Local Churches (especially, official minutes, membership records, baptismal records, marriage records, photographs)
  • District Records
  • Conference Records (including journals, minutes and reports of boards and committees, correspondence, publications)
  • Records of Affiliated Institutions (such as schools, orphanages, hospitals)
  • Personal Records (including photographs, letters, diaries, and other papers of ministers and laymen)