Donate to Our Archives Collection

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The Region of Peel Archives strives to collect material of long term evidential or historical value relating to the County and Region of Peel, Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, area business/organizations, and citizens.

When in doubt, don't throw it out! Give us a call.

Interested in donating? The reading room can often be busy, so we prefer if you arrange a time to meet with us.

Phone 905-791-4055 x 1 x 3630 or pamaarchives@peelregion.ca

What we tend to keep:

Records that we tend to keep include:

County/Municipal/Regional government records (please refer any such material to the Regional Archivist)
Personal and business correspondence, memos, and journals/diaries (including letters and postcards)
Bylaws and constitutions
Membership lists / rosters
Newsletters
Meeting agendas and minutes
Reports
Draft manuscripts (if annotated or if not published)
Speeches
Research notes
Local advertisements (broadsides, calendars, pamphlets, postcards, menus, etc.)
Directories & phone books
Indentures (land deeds, mortgages, etc.)
Photographs (when the locale and or people are known)
Maps, plans, drawings (including architectural and technical drawings)
Scrapbooks
Personal identification documents like old passports and driver's licenses (case by case basis)
Audio/video recordings of events in Peel
Almost anything created before 1945, if it relates to Peel

What we tend to not keep:

We tend to not keep (with some exceptions):

More than two (2) copies of any given item
Duplicates of material where the original exists
Routine financial records (bank books, cancelled cheques, receipts, etc.)
Routine correspondence (i.e. paying bills, tax assessments, etc.)
Newspaper clippings (unless they are from a rare paper or if they are part of a larger scrapbook or relevant research file)
Low-level administrative records (i.e. invoices or interoffice memos concerning ordering supplies, booking meeting halls, paying bills, etc)
Poor quality photographs with little or no identification
Travel documents like airline tickets, brochures, or museum guides
Unused items, such as blank notebooks, exercise books, and ledger books
Plaques and other mounted items (unless they are unusually significant)
Published books and religious texts
Event registration / RSVP lists
Material produced outside of Peel

Frequently asked questions:

Q. What records are we interested in collecting?

A. Records that reveal the lives and activities of individuals and activities of individuals, families, businesses, organizations and institutions anywhere in the Region of Peel (Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon).

Q. What happens to my donation?

A. Archival records are re-housed in acid free materials, placed in climate-controlled storage, catalogued and made available for various types of research, unless restrictions have been applied.

Q. Can I give you copies, instead of the originals?

A. Archives collect original records.

Q. Do you issue tax receipts?

A. PAMA can issue tax receipts for the value of the records you donate. We are also a designated institution under the Canadian Cultural Property Export Act.

Q. Will my records be put on exhibit?

A. PAMA mounts a number of exhibits each year and archival material is often included. But we are unable to guarantee that your records will be placed on display.

Q. How do you safeguard privacy at the Archives?

A. The Archives protects personal, propietary, or privileged information found in its records. We also observe a professional code of ethics. Sometimes, we will also apply reasonable donor restrictions where necessary.