You don’t have to sort it
Send the lot: complete runs, water-damaged singles, the ones you can’t identify. Working out what matters is our job.
ADArchive intake · Donate · Lend · Consign · Sell
Keep it
visible.
Your collection was made to be passed around, not packed away. However it comes to us, it gets photographed page by page and put back in front of people. Credited, kept together, and seen.
01Why give it to the archive
Two futures for
the same box.
Drag the line.
In the closet
- Seen by
- Nobody.
- Credited to
- Nobody.
- Condition
- Whatever the damp decides.
- Afterwards
- Usually cleared out by someone who doesn’t know what it is.
In the archive
- Seen by
- Readers in the Reading Room, and researchers and exhibitions when it goes out on loan.
- Credited to
- You, on every issue. Or anonymous, if you prefer.
- Condition
- Photographed page by page. The files are kept in more than one place.
- Afterwards
- It stays together. If we ever close, it passes to queer non-profit archives. Never to auction.
02Why people send it here
Most of it has been in a closet for thirty years.
It’s handled quietly
No names on anything unless you want them there. Plain packaging, private handling, and we never say publicly where a collection came from.
Nobody here is embarrassed by it
This is history to us. It’s photographed with the care a museum gives a first edition, and described in plain, unashamed language.
One conversation
Not three hundred listings. No photographing, packing and posting every issue yourself. One email and one decision.
You can keep it and still save it
Lend it to us. We photograph it and it comes home insured. The archive gains the issues and you lose nothing.
It stays queer owned
Queer owned, queer run, and open to the people it was made for.
03Four ways in
Pick the one
that fits.
You don’t have to decide now. “Not sure yet” is an option on the form.
Kept forever
Donate
- Never sold, parted out or traded.
- Catalogued under your name, or anonymously.
- Lent to universities, libraries, museums and queer non-profits.
- We pay the shipping.
You keep it
Lend
- We borrow it, photograph it and send it home.
- Shipping paid both ways, insured in transit.
- Your name, or one you choose, credited on every issue, permanently.
- A free lifetime Collector membership and your own copies of the files.
Paid as it sells
Consign
- We photograph, list, store and ship each piece.
- You take an agreed share of every sale.
- Ask for anything unsold back at any time.
Paid up front
Sell
- A written offer once we see what you have.
- Paid before or on collection, however you prefer.
- A few pieces to a whole estate. We travel for the large ones.
04How it works
Five steps. No surprises.
You can stop at any point before it ships.
- 01
Tell us what you have
A few questions on the form. Rough numbers are fine. Photos help but aren’t required.
- 02
Agree on a path
Donate, lend, consign or sell. You choose, in writing, before anything moves.
- 03
It travels to us
We send packing instructions and cover shipping on gifts. For large collections we come and collect in person.
- 04
Every page is photographed
Cover to cover, by hand, at full quality. Nothing trimmed, nothing skipped.
- 05
It goes online, and it stays
The issue becomes readable in the Reading Room. Donated copies are catalogued under your name and kept permanently.
05Our promise, in writing
The Hundred
Year Promise.
It is never sold
Nothing given to the archive is sold, parted out, traded or auctioned. Not by us, and not by whoever comes after us.
It stays together
Your collection is catalogued as one named collection. It doesn’t get broken up and scattered.
It exists twice
Every page is photographed and the files are kept in more than one place. If the paper is lost, the issue still exists.
It outlives us
If Archive Daddy ever closes or changes hands, the collection and files pass to queer non-profit archives. Never to a private buyer, never to auction.
It keeps travelling
It goes out on loan to universities, libraries, museums and queer non-profits for exhibitions and research, and it comes back.
It stays readable
Files are kept in open, ordinary formats anyone can still open in fifty years.
Every one of these is repeated in the Deed of Gift you sign. A document you hold, not a line on a website. Read the Deed of Gift →
06What we’re looking for
Yes, send it.
- Magazines and physique publications, 1940s to the early 2000s
- Books, calendars, catalogues and press material
- Photographs, slides, negatives and contact sheets
- Tape, film and video
- Flyers, tickets, mail-order catalogues, club ephemera
- Water-damaged, torn or incomplete. We still want to see it.
Not for us.
- Anything printed after about 2005
- Reproductions, reprints and photocopies
- Anything with no connection to gay or queer life
- Anything you don’t have the right to sell or give away
07 / START HERE
Tell us what you have.
Ten questions, most of them optional. A person reads every one of these and answers within two business days.
08Or give money
No magazines?
Money works too.
Every dollar goes to buying collections before they’re thrown out, and to photographing what comes in. Give once, at whatever size suits you.
09The plain terms
No small print.
What you give stays given
Donated material is never sold, parted out or traded. It’s catalogued, kept permanently, and lent out to universities, libraries, museums and queer non-profits for exhibitions and research.
How ownership passes
A donation is completed by a signed Deed of Gift: a short document naming what you’re giving and confirming it’s yours to give. We send it before anything ships, and you keep a copy. Read the Deed of Gift →
About tax
Archive Daddy is a company, not a registered charity, so a gift here isn’t a tax-deductible donation. What you get instead: a signed acknowledgement of exactly what you gave, your name in the catalogue entry for every piece (or anonymity, if you prefer), and the knowledge that it stays in one collection.
Shipping and collection
We pay the shipping on donations and send packing instructions so nothing arrives bent. For anything large we come to you and collect it in person.
Your details
Your name and contact details are used to talk to you about your collection and nothing else. We don’t sell, share or rent them.
If you change your mind
Nothing is binding until you sign. You can stop at any point before the material ships, and consigned items can be returned to you at any time.
I don’t know what any of it is worth
Most people don’t. Send photos or a rough description and we’ll tell you what we see, with no obligation either way.
It belonged to someone who has died
That’s most of what comes to us. We work with families and executors and we’re careful about it. Tell us on the form and we’ll take it slowly.
Some of it is damaged
Send it anyway. Damp, torn and faded copies are often the only ones left, and they’re photographed the same as everything else.
Can I keep some and give the rest?
Yes. Split it however you like: sell part, donate part, keep the pieces that mean something to you.
What happens to the pages once they’re online?
They go into the Reading Room, where members read them cover to cover. The physical copy stays in the collection.
What about letters and personal photos?
Published magazines go online. Private snapshots, letters and personal papers stay offline unless the person in them, or their estate, says yes.
Do you ever throw anything out?
No. Nothing donated leaves the collection.
Start with
one shelf.
Send a photo of one shelf. That’s enough to start a conversation, and there’s no obligation on either side.