Access policy
Open, by request, closed
Every item carries one of three stamps. The stamp tells you what you can do with it today.
Free to read now. Public-domain books, either hosted here as PDFs or linked to a scan at a library such as the Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg.
Safe to share, but not online yet, for example a book whose scan we are still checking. Write to us and we will send a copy or the pages you need.
Private family papers and photographs. Listed so researchers know they exist. Opened only with the family's written consent, and never with details about living people.
Family papers
Papers we hold, and why they stay closed
The archive also holds unpublished family papers from early twentieth-century Calcutta. They are listed here so researchers know they exist. They are not online, and they will not be until the family has approved what can be shown and every living person named in them has been considered.
Contribute
Lend us a box of old papers
If your family has letters, diaries, deeds, school certificates or studio portraits from before about 1950, we would like to hear from you. We scan, catalog and return everything, and you decide what becomes public.
- You keep ownership and copyright. We ask only for permission to show what you approve.
- You choose an access stamp for each item: open, by request, or closed.
- We leave out names, addresses and faces of living people unless they agree in writing.
- You can withdraw an item at any time, and we take it down.
Please write to us before sending anything. A draft of the consent form we use is below. To correct or remove something we show, whether you are the donor, a descendant or a person named in it, write to archive@areebuzzaman.com with the call number. We hide the item first and look into it after.
Draft donor consent form (template, not legal advice)
Waymark Project, Bengal Heritage Archive: donor consent form
1. What I am lending or giving. I describe each item (type, date, and where it came from) on an attached list.
2. My rights. I own the items or am authorized to share them. I keep ownership and copyright. I give the archive permission to scan, catalog and show the items I approve below.
3. Access. For each item I choose: Open (anyone may read it), By request (shared on request for research), or Closed (listed in the catalog, not shown).
4. Other people. I have told the archive about living people named or pictured in the items. Names, addresses and faces of living people stay hidden unless they agree in writing.
5. Originals. The archive returns all originals. It does not sell or auction them.
6. Withdrawal. I can ask the archive to remove any item from public view at any time, and it will do so promptly.
7. Credit. I choose how the family is credited, or whether it is credited at all.
Name: ______________ Date: ______________ Contact: ______________ Signature: ______________
This template has not been reviewed by a lawyer. It will be reviewed before the archive accepts papers.