Thank you for considering the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center as a repository for your historical materials. We greatly value your generosity as we build an inclusive collection that reflects our diverse communities locally, regionally and nationally.
Questions? Please contact museumcollections@nurfc.org.
Collections FAQs
To submit your item(s) for Acquisition Review, please fill out the form below.
- Photographs of the material(s) must be uploaded with the form.
- Please upload any related documentation that you have with the form.
Donation offers are reviewed by a curatorial team. All donation offers are reviewed based on historical interest as outlined in our Call for Donations, condition, our ability to make the material available to the public and the availability of resources to properly store and care for the material.
The curatorial team requires 30 days to review donation offers.
If your material is accepted into the collection, you will receive a Deed of Gift transferring ownership to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
If you are not notified within 30 days of your offer, we have reviewed the material(s) and decided they are duplicates or outside the scope of our collection and mission. If time allows, we may recommend a different repository for you to consider.
Under no circumstances should you physically send us your material(s) — via mail or drop off — without prior written curatorial approval.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center staff are not able to authenticate or appraise objects. If you are seeking either of these services, we recommend contacting a professional appraisal company.
Your Story. Our History.
The Freedom Center is building inclusive collections that reflect our diverse communities locally, regionally and nationally. We need your help! We are actively seeking donations of primary source materials centering the lived experiences and perspectives of African Americans from the following periods:
- Revolutionary America
- Abolition
- Post Civil-War and the Reconstruction Era
- Jim Crow Era to the Great Depression
- The New Deal and World War II
- The Civil Rights and Black Power movements
- Historic and contemporary social justice movements - Racial equality, economic empowerment, LGBTQIA+ rights, criminal justice, affordable housing, reproductive justice, education, climate justice, voting rights and fair housing
These items may include, but are not limited to:
- Broadsides
- Diaries and journals
- Historical Photographs
- Sketches and illustrations
- Labor contracts
- Letters
- Photographs
- Political memorabilia
- Clothing
- Magazines and newspapers
- Protest posters, t-shirts, buttons, photography and other related material