Research

The University Archives welcomes students, faculty, staff, and the general public to conduct research within our collections. In order to ensure the best experience, please review the following information regarding our research policies. 

Conducting Research

The University Archives is home to a large collection of rare and unique materials, so we ask our researchers to observe certain rules and handle items with care to help preserve these collections for future generations.  

  • All users will be asked to complete a registration form once per calendar year.  
  • Please finish food, snacks, and gum before you visit us. Covered beverages such as water or coffee are allowed in the reception area (not the reading room).
  • Lockers are provided to store your belongings such as backpacks, coats, hats and umbrellas while doing research in the reading room.  
  • You may bring pencils, paper, laptop, camera, or tablets into the research space. Please, no ink pens in the Reading Room. Plugs are available on some tables for charging devices.
  • We ask that you use only one box of archival material and one folder at a time. Box markers will be provided to mark your place. Please maintain the documents in the order they are received. Multiple boxes, however, can be requested for a visit but our space is limited and staff may need to cap the number of boxes recalled each day.
  • Use gloves when handling photographs or other fragile materials as directed by staff.  
  • Magnifying glasses are provided at each table.  
  • An accessible gender-neutral bathroom is located directly outside the IU Archives.  

Please ask if you have any questions or if we can provide any accommodations. At the reception desk, you will find staff who can show you how to request scans, navigate a finding aid, consult with you about other sources you may find useful, and more.  

Collection materials do not circulate. Occasionally the use of certain records is restricted by statute, by the office of origin, or by the donor(s). The University Archives also reserves the right to restrict the use of records which are unprocessed and those which are fragile. 

Copies are made available solely for the private study, scholarship, or research use of the researcher, who agrees not to transfer them to others.   

  • Researchers can bring in and use personal cameras (without flash) to take images for personal and research use. A self-service public scanner also is available in the reading room, free of charge. Non-IU researchers will need to create an IU Guest account. Please consult with the staff members on duty for directions and to make sure that the material is sturdy enough to be scanned or for assistance in removing fasteners.
  • The University Archives will consider scanning requests when such duplication can be accomplished without injury to the materials. Staff will scan up to ½ inch (or about 100 pages) of collection materials for free. For additional scanning needs, consider hiring an independent researcher.  

The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility for determining the copyright status of these materials rests with those wishing to reuse them. Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations. 

When citing documents from this office in published and unpublished papers, they should be cited as [Item and Date], [Collection Name], [Collection Number], IU Libraries University Archives, Bloomington, Indiana.  

Permission to examine materials is not an authorization to publish them. The Indiana University Archives does charge publication fees for images of its holdings that are published, exhibited, and used in other media. Contact the Curator of Photographs to inquire about publication fees, to gain such permissions, or for further information.

Fees for Publishing Indiana University Photographs and Documents

For IU administrators, staff, faculty, students and alumni and for projects and publications about IU history and culture:  

  • No charge

Not-For-Profit Organizations:  

  • No charge

For-Profit Organizations:

  •  Commercial: 100.00
  •  Advertising: 200.00 

Remote Research Services

We understand that not everyone has the time, funding, or ability to visit our reading room. To support research and improve accessibility, we are happy to offer limited remote services for those that need help from afar. Our current remote services include staff-assisted scanning, limited in-depth research, and/or the option to hire a proxy remote researcher.

With patron direction, staff can do in-depth investigation within our collections for up to an hour, such as (but not limited to): looking for specific correspondence within a small range of folders, identifying documents on a specific subject or date range, or checking for a name within a ledger. Staff cannot provide interpretation or qualitative analysis of materials. As can often happen in archival research, we may not find what you are looking for in that hour and at that point will suggest that you plan a visit to us in the future or hire a proxy researcher at your own discretion. 

  • Researchers can bring in and use personal cameras (without flash) to take images for personal and research use. A self-service public scanner also is available in the reading room, free of charge. Non-IU researchers will need to create an IU Guest account. Please consult with the staff members on duty for directions and to make sure that the material is sturdy enough to be scanned or for assistance in removing fasteners.
  • The University Archives will consider scanning requests when such duplication can be accomplished without injury to the materials. Staff will scan up to ½ inch (or about 100 pages) of collection materials for free. For additional scanning needs, consider hiring an independent researcher.  

Copies are made available solely for the private study, scholarship, or research use of the researcher, who agrees not to transfer them to others.  

We maintain a list of independent researchers who are available to conduct research projects under your direction, please email archives@iu.edu for the current list.  It will be up to you to select a researcher from the list and reach out to them independently to see if they are available for hire, establish fees, and work out any other details of the research.  We will aid the proxy researcher in finding resources, but we will otherwise remove ourselves from the process.