Deposit of Records - Archives
(Revised 2008)
The Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service is responsible for the location, collection and preservation of archive collections relating to past life within the administrative County of Staffordshire and the City of Stoke on Trent and for making these collections available for use by the public. The Service is willing to receive deposits of records on loan for an indefinite period and to receive records by gift or bequest under the following terms.
1. Statutory Powers
The Archive Service is:
(i) the authorised archive service for the custody of the official records of Staffordshire County Council and Stoke on Trent City Council and their predecessor authorities and the District and Parish Councils within the County of Stafford and the City of Stoke on Trent under the provisions of the Local Government Acts, 1972 and 1992.
(ii) designated by the Lord Chancellor as the local place of deposit for specified classes of records of central government and its local agencies, called Public Records, under the provisions of the Public Records Acts, 1958 and 1967.
(iii) designated by the Diocese of Lichfield as the diocesan archive service for parochial records within the archdeaconries of Stoke-upon-Trent, Lichfield and Walsall under the terms of the Parochial Registers and Records Measure, 1978, as amended in 1992.
(iv) the authorised place of deposit for the deposit of tithe records under the provisions of the Tithe Redemption Act, 1936 and of manorial records under the Manorial Document Rules, 1959.
(v) empowered under the provisions of the Local Government (Records) Act, 1962, to purchase records, to accept gifts and bequests of records and to accept records on loan from any source not covered by (i) - (iv) above.
2. Definition of Terms
Depositor: The person/organisation or their heirs in law or their successors in title or office who is the owner of the records and who places them in the custody of the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service.
Council: the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Joint Archives Committee as established by an Agreement dated 26 March 1997 and subsequently renewed 19 September 2001
Archive Service: the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service, comprising the Staffordshire Record Office, the Lichfield Record Office and Stoke on Trent City Archives
Head of Archive Services means such person(s) as appointed by the Council
Joint Data Controller means such person who determines the purposes for which personal data is processed during the period when the records remain on Deposit.
Records: the property of the Depositor listed in the final catalogue produced by the Archive Service
1998 Act means the Data Protection Act 1998
3. Deposit
3.1 The terms of this Agreement shall apply to all records deposited with the Archive Service on or after 1 March 2008. The Depositor may agree any variations to these terms with the Head of the Archive Services at the time of deposit and any such variations will be recorded in writing.
3.2 The records shall remain deposited in the custody of the Council for such a period sufficient to justify the Council's expenditure on storage, cataloguing and conservation. In normal circumstances, this would be for a minimum of thirty years.
3.3 The Council shall become the Joint Data Controller with the Depositor in compliance with the 1998 Act. The Council shall reserve the right not to take records on deposit which may still be needed by the Depositor to support decisions concerning individuals. Where records containing personal information are included within a deposit, they must be identified at the point of deposit.
3.4 The Council shall keep and maintain the name and address of the Depositor permanently for legal purposes both in hard copy and by electronic database. This information will not be released to third parties without the express written permission of the Depositor. Any change in the name or address of the Depositor of the records must be notified to the Head of Archive Services. The Council will not accept responsibility for any consequences which may arise from the failure to notify such changes by the Depositor.
3.5 The Council reserves the right to either return to the Depositor any records which the Head of Archive Services considers to be of no historical or administrative value or to destroy them with the consent of the Depositor. Records relating to other counties may be transferred to a more appropriate place of deposit with the consent of the Depositor.
4. Gifts and Bequests
4.1 Records may be given or bequeathed to the Archive Service and, in such cases, the records, subject to the terms of any gift or bequest, shall become the absolute property of Staffordshire County Council, Stoke on Trent City Council or their successor authorities to be preserved by the Archive Service.
5. Custody and Preservation
5.1 The Archive Service will store the records in secure and appropriate environmental conditions and will take all reasonable precautions to preserve the records from damage, loss or theft but shall not otherwise be liable to the Depositor for any damage to or loss or theft of any records arising from events beyond the control of the Archive Service during the deposit period.
5.2 It shall be the responsibility of the Depositor to ensure that appropriate insurance arrangements are made for any deposited records at its own expense. Any privately owned archive collections that have been deposited will be covered by the Archive Service's insurance for the cost of physical repair and conservation arising from any damage from whatever cause while in the custody of the Archive Service. However the documents will not be insured for compensation in the event of the total loss of records.
6. Conservation
6.1 The Archive Service shall be entitled in its absolute discretion to take any of the following actions in respect of the deposited records:
(i) To photograph, microfilm or otherwise copy them. The ownership of and copyright in all such copies shall vest in the Council.
(ii) To number them in a non-permanent manner with a finding reference for their identification and safe-keeping.
(iii) To carry out such work in regard to the conservation of the records as the Head of Archive Services may from time to time consider desirable and practicable in order to prevent deterioration in accordance with the overall conservation programme of the Archive Service.
(iv) To withhold public access to records which are in a fragile condition until all necessary conservation work on them has been completed.
7. Cataloguing
7.1 The records will be catalogued by the Archive Service as part of its programme of cataloguing all collections in its custody and in accordance with the best current practice. A copy of the final catalogue will be provided free of charge to the Depositor and to such other persons or institutions as the Head of Archive Services considers appropriate save that copies of such records will not be provided to any party other than the Depositor where they have been deposited in confidence. The name of the Depositor will normally be included in the catalogue unless agreed to the contrary.
7.2 The ownership of and copyright in the final catalogue or any copy of it and in any other finding aids shall vest in the Council.
7.3 The Council will include catalogue entries for the records in its online catalogue except where records have been deposited in confidence. Such confidential records shall not form part of the on-line catalogue.
7.4 The Archive Service shall be entitled to make details of accessions of records available to the National Register of Archives and places lists of accessions on its own web site on an annual basis.
8. Access
8.1 Subject to any exception agreed between the Council and the Depositor under paragraph 3.1 above and to any statutory restrictions and closure periods, the records will be made available to the public for purposes of research, free of charge in the supervised reading rooms of the Archive Service during advertised opening hours and in accordance with the Archive Service's registration requirements and procedures.
8.2 Where the Depositor has stipulated at the time of deposit that their records may not be
used for a legal purpose or for legal proceedings without their prior consent, the Archive
Service will notify the Depositor when requests for access for legal purposes are made. In such cases, records will not be made available without the express permission of the Depositor unless a court orders their production. The Council shall not accept any liability for the use of records for legal purposes if it has not been made aware of such use by any member of the public using the records for that purpose.
8.3 The Council shall observe the Depositor's right to keep their records confidential for an agreed period if requested to do so save that the non-disclosure of records on a permanent basis will not be accepted by the Council.
8.4 All users of the Archive Service will be made aware, where appropriate, of the requirement to comply with the 1998 Act. Researchers who do not comply with the 1998 Act will be personally liable for any infringement.
8.5 Copies of records will only be supplied to the public in accordance with current copyright legislation and on payment of an appropriate charge. No further reproduction of records shall be allowed without the consent of the Head of Archive Services. The Council will take all reasonable measures to inform the public of their responsibilities under copyright legislation but shall not accept liability for any infringement by a member of the public.
8.6 Copies will not be provided if it is considered that the copying process will lead to the damage or destruction of the original document. If in the opinion of the Head of Archive Services the scale and circumstances of the proposed copying are such as to affect the Depositor's interests, the Depositor will be consulted before the copying is approved.
8.7 Unless otherwise agreed at the time of deposit, the publication of deposited records by a member of the public shall be allowed at the discretion of the Head of Archive Services subject to due acknowledgement to the Depositor and the Archive Service.
8.8 Unless otherwise agreed at the time of deposit, the Archive Service reserves the right to publish images or text of records in hard copy or in electronic form in its own publications without the further permission of the Depositor The use of such records will always be subject to due acknowledgement to the Depositor.
8.9 Press, Radio and Television
(i) When items of a particular local or general interest are discovered in deposited collections, statements may be issued to the media to illustrate the work of the Archive Service. If a newspaper wishes to print a photograph of a particular record in this context, the Depositor will be deemed to have given permission to do so unless otherwise agreed at the time of deposit.
(ii) The prior consent of the Depositor shall be sought by the Council for the use of documents in television or radio broadcasting.
9 Exhibitions
9.1 The temporary removal of deposited records for a period not exceeding six months from any of the repositories which comprise the Archive Service for the purpose of exhibition may be allowed subject to obtaining the prior consent of the Depositor and subject to the Council being satisfied that appropriate provision has been made for the security and insurance of the deposited records. In such circumstances the Head of Archive Services shall ensure that the Council is indemnified against loss or damage and that appropriate insurance is arranged for that purpose, a copy of the insurance policy being produced, if required, to the Head of Archive Services. In the case of the exhibition of records outside the United Kingdom, the Head of Archive Services shall ensure that the borrowing institution follows all required export procedures.
9.2 Deposited records may be displayed in original or copy form by the Archive Service on the Council's premises or under the supervision of Archive Service staff.
10. Withdrawals
10.1 A Depositor is entitled to remove their records temporarily or permanently in accordance with paragraph 10.2 and 10.3. A Depositor, or their agent, who is preparing to withdraw the deposited records, whether temporarily or permanently, must prove their entitlement to receive the records to the satisfaction of the Archive Service.
10.2 Temporary
The Depositor may withdraw records temporarily after giving a minimum of one week's prior notice to the Archive Service. The Depositor is asked to make proper provision for the security of the records during the period of withdrawal. If the records are to be put on display, the Archive Service will advise the Depositor on the suitability of the Depositor's proposed arrangements for the security and physical keeping of the records.
10.3 Permanent
(i) The Depositor may withdraw the deposited records at any time, after giving not less than twelve calendar months' notice of his/her intention to do so or such shorter period of notice as the Head of Archive Services, at his/her discretion, may agree in any particular case.
(ii) During the period of notice the Archive Service will be entitled to copy the records by such method as is deemed appropriate by the Head of Archive Services and to retain the copy as the property of the Archive Service after the removal of the records. The Archive Service will continue to make such copies accessible to the public, subject to the conditions and limitations set out in paragraph 8 above, save only that publication, in whole or in part, will not be allowed without the consent of the Depositor.
(iii) In the event of permanent withdrawal, the Council reserves the right to claim reimbursement for the cost invested by the Council in the storage, cataloguing and conservation of the records on a scale to be agreed with the Head of the Archive Service in consultation with the Council.
(iv) Where a collection is withdrawn for sale, the Archive Service shall have the first option to purchase the collection.
11. Parish Records
In the case of records belonging to and deposited by the Parochial Church Council of an ecclesiastical parish within the Diocese of Lichfield, the records will be held in accordance with the terms specified in the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978, amended 1992, and nothing in these terms of agreement shall override or countermand the terms of that measure.
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