Memorabilia and archives

Nothing an alumni association can offer is wanted more than something genuinely old and genuinely from the place. It is also the category with the most owners, and the association is rarely one of them.

The archives belong to the institution

University and school archives are institutional collections, frequently accessioned, professionally managed and governed by the same deaccessioning rules as any museum. Photographs, programmes, films, yearbooks, correspondence and objects in the archive are not fundraising inventory.

• Do not take material from the archive to sell, at any level of the institution
• The archivist decides what may be reproduced and how, not the association
• Institutional photographs frequently carry rights the association does not hold
• Films and recordings carry further rights — performers, music, broadcasters

Approach the archivist as a partner rather than a supplier. They are frequently delighted to help with a reproduction programme and dismayed by a request to sell an original.

Reproductions are the answer

This is where the category actually lives, and it is better than selling originals would be.

• A framed print of a campus photograph from a specific decade
• A reproduction of a class's yearbook page, team photo or concert programme
• A print of the campus map, the crest, an old poster or a hand-drawn plan
• A facsimile of a historic document, produced properly
• A digitised film clip of a class's era, where rights allow

Reproductions cost little, can be produced in quantity so several bidders can buy, are specific enough to a cohort to be emotional, and leave the collection intact. Agree the reproduction rights with the archivist in writing, once, and reuse the arrangement.

Building fabric is the exception people love

When a building is demolished, renovated or re-roofed, the material that comes out is frequently available and is not archive material.

• A brick, a slate, a floorboard, a section of bleacher, a piece of the old gym floor
• A seat from a renovated hall or stadium
• A section of court, ice or turf
• A piece of a felled campus tree, turned or made into something

These are the most reliably emotional lots an association can offer and they cost the price of a mount and a plaque. Ask facilities to hold material when a project is scheduled — they will, and nobody ever asks.

Marks and athletics licensing

The institution's name, seal, logo and colours are protected, and where there is an athletics programme they are commercially licensed with an enforcement regime.

• Merchandise bearing the marks needs licensing, and the licensor is not the association
• Signed athletics items and anything involving a current student-athlete's likeness sit inside their own regulatory framework — ask compliance
• Vintage licensed merchandise donated by an alum is generally a resale of a lawfully acquired item, which is a different question from producing new goods
• Get the marks question answered once, in writing, and reuse it

Alumni-owned material is the easy category

What a graduate owns, they may give. A varsity jacket, a beanie, a programme, a letter, a photograph, a piece of kit — these belong to the alum and are entirely auctionable.

Ask the classes directly. A reunion year clearing out a loft produces material the archive would love and the auction can sell, and offering the archivist first refusal on anything significant is both correct and a good way to keep them as a partner.

General information, not legal advice for your association. Whether you are an independent organization or part of the institution changes who receipts, who owns the alumni data and who may use the marks — the advancement office and your own counsel decide how any of this applies.