Depositing, Donating, and Submitting
The All Christian Archive (ACA) welcomes archival material that in any way evidences Christian heritage, even if subtle, from any person. Children too can submit their own testimonies, Christian letters, or Christian stories. All other deposits and donations that are considered legal transactions requires the persons to be age 18 or over, so long as the person depositing or donating the material(s) has a legal right to do so. For example, the ACA will not receive original materials (photocopies may be accepted) from an organization or institution through an individual is acting alone without authorization from the organization or institution. In these cases, a letter from an official of the organization or institution authorizing the materials for depositing into the ACA is required, or documentation showing the property has been legally transferred to the individual who in turns wants to deposit to the ACA.
The “depositors” and “donors” below refers to individuals who are representing themselves and in many cases their families too and they possess full rights of the property to deposit or donate to the ACA. IMPORTANT: All your information remains private, not displayed on the public website allchristianarchive.org except for any pieces which you wish to have displayed. One exception to this is the planned Forum added to the site where users can respond to specific topics such as “Tell us about your miracle story or a family member or friend you know….” In the case of content added directly to the site for the encouragement of all is not private but public.
The general meaning of “deposit” includes donating material. But it the more strict sense it means depositing materials in which you, the one who is depositing, retains the rights to the materials.
Each depositor decides for him/herself, their family, whether this wish to donate the materials to the ACA including the transfer of ownership for permanent preservation OR to deposit the materials for preservation while maintaining the ownership leaving open the right to receive back the materials in the future if he/she decides to preserve themselves or have another archive they wish to deposit or some other preservation means. In cases of donating the archival material, copyrights are still retained by copyright holders. The ACA is not interested in capturing other’s copyrighted materials. But donors on the Deed of Gift form do have the option to transfer the copyrights to the ACA but are generally discouraged from doing so since the chief purpose of the ACA is preservation.
FEES
For users, depositors, who upload a small number of electronic files or just one document (e.g. a Word or PDF file) of their own testimony under e.g. 5 pages, there are no fees. Support, though, is encouraged from each person with a suggested $10-$20 annual fee. The ACA uses the term “submitting” and “submissions to archival materials uploaded electronically and also to users of the ACA site for submitting requests for forms or information from the ACA’s CIRC (see Methods of Depositing below).
For depositors who have several documents in paper form (and/or photographs and/or artifacts), there will be a deposit fee assessed for the processing of the material which ranges on the quantity of materials, on the average currently at $20/standard size office box. It will vary on the need of each deposit with some boxes requiring very little processing to other collections that will require much more time to process. The details in the bill will be explained. The depositors have the right to question or dispute in accordance with the law. In addition to the deposit fee, there is an annual archival storage fee that ranges on the quantity of materials from $10 for less than one box to $200 for 20 boxes
For donors, a deposit fee is suggested based on the quantity of materials, $20 per box.
All depositors and submitters are to be informed, as also stated on the About page, that the ACA is owned and managed by A USA Preservation LLC, a for-profit business. No donations or fees are tax deductible in accordance with federal and state laws.
Methods of Depositing
The two methods of depositing materials to the ACA are: electronic submissions using the Submissions form, and/or by regular mail. See Contact page for the ACA’s PO Box for mailing material.
Private or Public
As a private archive, most of the collections are private but which may also be made accessible to the “public,” that is, to researchers who request any materials in which the depositor has designated a portion of all of the collection to be available to researchers. The rest is private. Most of the founder’s collections are planned to be made available to researchers. This sense of “public” is different in some respects to the website. All information on the website is “public.” Thus, no content from a depositor or submitter is intended to be placed on the website except with the designated permission of the depositor. Thus, we operate with the default mode of presumed privacy of content unless or until the depositor designates otherwise.
Each depositor of archival materials to the ACA and each submitter (ACA’s submissions or Contact form) chooses whether they want the records they are submitting to remain private or to be available to the public. For those who designate the materials to be sealed (private) can designate a year when they will become available to the public.
Keep in mind that the ACA is a private archive that is not open to the public. So then what does “public” mean? Let us use an example. An individual Christian submits their one-page testimony and designates it open to the public. This gives ACA the right to post this on the ACA website for the benefit of others. But this does not mean that ACA will be able, due to limited space, to post it on the ACA site. The ACA’s goal is to collect the testimonies of tens of thousands of Christians. But there is the long-range second purpose of the “public” designation: the depositor willing that the deposited archival material to be available to researchers in the future.
Depositors can designate certain documents to remain private indefinitely and other documents in the collection to be open to the public. This must be specified on the Deed of Gift and Deposit forms.
Depositors who are not donated the materials need only use the Deposit form. Those who are donating use the Deed of Gift form.
Registration is Required
The ACA does not receive anonymous donations. Each submitter, depositor, and donor is to complete and send in the Registration form. This enables you to submit uploaded files.
Please complete the Form below:
[user_registration_form id=”15940″]