Slough Borough Council: Loans, donations, bequests and sale to the Records Office

Loans, donations, bequests and sale to the Records Office

Advice

Berkshire Record Office is funded by the six local councils in Berkshire - Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Wokingham and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Office is managed by Reading Borough Council on behalf of the other authorities. West Berkshire Council is the authority responsible for the archive collections.

Gifts and bequests

Records may be given or bequeathed to the Berkshire Record Office with the ownership of the records being transferred from the donor to the records office. Gifts or bequests are the most satisfactory method of preserving records for posterity and making them available for consultation and research.

Deposit

Subject to the following regulations, records may be deposited in the Berkshire Record Office with the ownership being kept by the depositor(s) and their heirs at law, under the following conditions:

(1) Records must normally be deposited for a period of not less than twenty years, except they may be withdrawn temporarily within that period if required as evidence in a legal action.

(2) The county archivist reserves the right to return to the depositor(s) any documents deemed to be of no historical interest, or to destroy the same with the consent of the depositor(s).

(3) The depositor(s) must sign an appropriate form of agreement.

It is be possible at any time to convert a deposit into a gift or bequest at the discretion of the depositor(s).

In certain circumstances records may be deposited temporarily in the Berkshire Record Office for a period of less than twenty years, but such deposits shall be at the absolute discretion of the county archivist.

For more information see the Berkshire Record office website.