Air-Britain is happy to accept donations of archive material, in line with our collection policy below. We also accept donations of books for our second-hand sales operations, more details of which can be found at Books – Second Hand (air-britain.com).

If you have items to donate, initially please contact Keith Cameron at donations@air-britain.com.  He will then be able to advise the next steps.

Thank you on behalf of the Air-Britain Board

 

The following are items that will be preserved in the A-B archive (digital or physical).

• Air-Britain publications and any supporting documents that were used in their production.
• Photographic images (in all formats, except cine).
• Local aviation (enthusiast) magazines from the UK.
• Official and unofficial aviation production data and civil & military aircraft registers (e.g., construction lists, registers etc).
• Official aircraft registers (civil & military)
• Historical research materials e.g., development materials, operational records, personnel records.

The following artefacts are specifically excluded from the A-B archive collection

• Video cassettes, DVD or other moving images.
• Aviation ephemera e.g., sick bags, inflight promotional materials, airline magazines etc.
• Commercial books.
• Aircraft models (in kit or complete form).
• Uniforms and individuals’ personal effects.
• Aircraft or parts thereof.
• Airfield maps and related technical drawings.
• Original materials that are properly owned by The National Archive.
• Materials obtained illegally.
• Official material still deemed classified as SECRET or above.

Considerations

All donations will be subject to a “gateway” assessment to determine, quality and applicability of retention. Wherever possible this assessment will be undertaken prior to artefacts being handed over. Exceptions to those items listed above will be considered at this stage. Exceptional cases will then be considered by the archive committee to determine retention.

Focus of the archive should be on material written in English. Significant exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Air-Britain reserves the right, after assessment, to donate items to other charitable organisations or archives or to sell items to help support the running of the archive.

An individual’s donation, if of a substantive size and when materially appropriate, will remain intact.

Digitally stored material should be encouraged, as does the provision of any associated indexes.

Donations are handled by several Air-Britain archivists, mainly based in the South of England. Our volunteers will try to collect donations but this may not be possible. In the first instance, we would ask that donors discuss the transport arrangements on initial contact. Financial donations to support the transportation of materials are encouraged.

Contact Details

For those wishing to make donations please contact donations@air-britain.com