by Sandra Yates, Head of McGovern Historical Center
The time of year that we’ve all been waiting for is here. Crisp cool-ish breeze, freshly baked pumpkin bread, and breathtaking foliage potential. It’s October, and that means it’s Archives Month, y’all!
As we’ve done the last two years, the TMC Library is celebrating the season with our Adopt a Box campaign. You can help the McGovern Historical Center secure the history of the Texas Medical Center by adopting a box. During October, every tax-deductible gift of $50 or more will get your name permanently inscribed on an actual collection box in the archives.
What does it mean to Adopt a Box?
It cost roughly $50 to preserve the historical materials within a single unprocessed box. Your donation provides us enough funds to purchase preservation supplies for this box. That includes a new acid-free archival box and all the folders, buffered paper, and polyester document/photograph preservers needed to preserve the materials in that box.
While there is no additional responsibility on your part, your name will be permanently labeled on an existing box in the archive. As a thank you, you will also receive a portrait of your box (like the image above) and letter of certification that indicates the collection and box number location in the archives. You are welcome to visit your box at the McGovern Historical Center to just say, “Hi!” or take a selfie with it for your Instagram page. Make an appointment at our El Rio location, and we’ll have your box ready when you arrive.
All levels of donation are welcome and support our work. Every donation goes a long way at the McGovern Historical Center. Here are a few examples of how we utilize financial support:
- $10 buys an archival box to preserve papers
- $50 preserves one box of collection materials
- $250 buys permanent archival labels for boxes
- $500 digitizes a 20-minute 16mm film with sound
- $1,500 supports a year of online access to our collections archives.library.tmc.edu
- $2,000 processes a small collection
- $5,000 helps us fund a 12-week internship for an archives student
Help the campaign follow and tag #Give2History on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. With your support, we hope to preserve 20 boxes for the month.
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Download our Give2History social media graphics and share on any social platform. You can also print and share the Give2History-flyer (PDF).
