College Archives Services

Reference Services

For information about the history of Smith College, or for help with any aspect of research in the College Archives, please contact the College Archives staff.

Visiting the Archives

You are encouraged to visit the College Archives during open hours to review materials relating to your research. Photo identification is required on your first visit. The Reading Room is equipped with tables, outlets, and wireless access for your laptop computers. A public computer terminal is available for accessing in-house databases, searching the Five College Library Catalog, the Five College Finding Aids database and other online resources.

Photocopies and duplication of materials in the Archives is done by the staff. Personal scanning devices are not allowed in the Reading Room, however digital cameras are permitted under specified conditions.

Class & Campus Presentations

The Smith College Archives staff actively wants you to understand Smith history. Faculty members at Smith and other institutions work with staff of the College Archives to incorporate historical Smith material in their courses. In the past students from anthropology, photography, American studies, art history, exercise sports studies, mathematics, psychology, studio art, landscape studies, women’s studies, sociology, and philosophy courses have used our materials. Our historical materials document Smith’s important role in many disciplines.

As a Smith student: You can learn more about your community through the College Archives. College Archives staff give talks at Friday House Teas; at Orientation programs; as well as to incoming and transfer students. We talk with House Historians about collecting and documenting your House history, and work with Residential Life staff and the Office of Multicultural Diversity to explore the history of Smith. We encourage you to come to the Archives to do independent research as well. If you have a question about Smith history, we’re the place to visit!

As an alumna: The Smith College Archives works with your class and reunion officers in a variety of ways. We make presentations about the information available in the College Archives that document your undergraduate time here. We suggest ways to continue to document your class activities. This information is often included in reunion books, on Alumnae Parade signs, and at reunion events. Staff members are happy to give talks to Smith Clubs. You often see historical images from the College Archives on your Smith Club website.

Please contact the College Archives if you wish us to work with you on incorporating materials into your curriculum, or would like us to speak with your particular group about the history of Smith.

Duplication

When possible, the Smith College Archives staff provides photocopies and reproductions of unrestricted materials for research purposes. We reserve the right to refuse any request for reproduction that would violate copyright law, damage the original item(s), or place undue stress on the resources of the College Archives. Permission to use or publish text or images from our collection must be obtained from the College Archives. Due to their fragile nature, some items within the College Archives cannot be reproduced. In the case of audiovisual materials, if only the original exists, a 'use copy' will first be made. The price of the reproduction will include this copy.

The SSC and CA do not permit the use of personal scanning devices, however the use of personal digital cameras in the Reading Room to photograph materials is allowed under specified conditions.

Rates for Photocopies

*Service Charge: Items sent through Five College mail will be assessed a $2.00 service charge. For items sent through the regular mail, a service charge of $3.00 will be added for orders of 60 copies or less. For orders that exceed 60 copies, a service charge of 20% of the total order will be applied.

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyright material. Under certain conditions, known as "fair use," the law specifies that libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction for private study, scholarship, or research. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of these purposes, that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Researchers are liable to the creator, any heirs, owner or copyright holder, for any violation of their rights or misuses of the reproductions. Researchers may not publish or reproduce any material without permission from the legal copyright owners and from the SSC as owners of the physical property. The staff of the Smith College Archives does not sell these copies for profit; it merely allows the copying at the request of researchers.

For more information, see Terms of Use (U.S. Copyright Law).

Rates for Reproduction of Images and Audiovisual Materials

Permissions and Publication Information

The Smith College Archives will grant permission to publish audiovisual materials from the Collection when publishers assume all responsibility for clearing reproduction rights and for any infringement of the U.S. Copyright Code. Publishers must obtain written permission from a) the copyright owner, his or her heirs or assigns and b) from the Smith College Archives, owner of the original materials, before publishing or otherwise reproducing copyrighted materials.

Publishers must complete a Smith College Archives "Permission to Publish Contract" and pay a permission fee (see Rates for Reproduction of Audiovisual Materials).

Permission is granted under the following conditions:

1. Permission is granted for one-time use only (unless specific exceptions are granted) and for the purpose listed in the "Permission to Publish Contract." Any subsequent use (including subsequent editions, paperback editions, foreign language editions, etc.), constitutes reuse and must be applied for separately in writing. An additional fee will be charged for each subsequent edition. The "Multiple format fee" applies only to different formats of the same "edition" of a work (e.g. a CD-ROM version of a book or a video of a television documentary).
    
2. Credit line should read "Smith College Archives." The photographer's name must also be included in the credit line if it is known or can be determined. This credit line must be included with each image.
    
3. A copy of all works in which the moving/still image or recording appears must be sent to the Smith College Archives at the time of publication; but if the work contains no more than two of the Smith College Archives's images or recordings at the time of publication, proofs or tearsheets of the title page and page(s) containing the picture(s) and acknowledgements will be sufficient. With videos, CD-ROM, films, slide shows, the publisher should send still photographs or copies of the title frame and the frame(s) showing credits, or promotional materials.
    
4. Any and all alterations of the original image other than reduction and enlargement should be noted in the accompanying caption or label.
    
5. Reproductions must be purchased directly from the Smith College Archives and may not be obtained or reproduced in any fashion from outside published or unpublished sources (including the Smith College Archives Web site).
    
6. Publisher agrees not to permit others to reproduce the image or recording or any facsimile of it; not to reproduce the image on a dust jacket, end paper, advertisement, or any commercial use of a similar nature without permission and without paying an additional permission fee; and not to mass-reproduce as unbound material unless specifically authorized by a letter of permission.
    
7. In authorizing the publication of an image or recording, the Smith College Archives does not surrender its own right to publish it, or to grant permission to others to do so.
    
8. If permission is granted for the publishing party itself to photograph any visual material in the Smith College Archives, all resulting images must be given to the Smith College Archives after use.
    
9. The Smith College Archives reserves the right to limit the number of images; to restrict the use or reproduction of rare or valuable material; to make special quotations on material involving unusual difficulty in copying; and to charge a higher copying fee than specified. Copies are not supplied to picture agencies except by special arrangement.
    
10. Any exceptions or additions to the above conditions will appear on, and be considered part of, the contract.

[Conditions are from the SCA's "Permission to Publish Contract"]