The Vault

The Beal building maintains a locked vault where some kinds of material are kept. The contents of the vault include:

• Material autographed by famous or notable persons, such as prominent politicians, artists, inventors, and celebrities.

• Fragile material, such as glass plate negatives.

• Sensitive material (e.g., material with personally identifiable information) that requires extra protection beyond that which is provided via the library's regular closed stacks.

If the processor encounters material that they feel should be added to the vault, they should consult with the Assistant Director Archivist for Collections Management. If the assistant director agrees that the material should be added to the vault, then one of two things will happen:

• Non-sensitive material will be photocopied and the copy will be retained in the collection while the original item will be placed in the vault.

• Sensitive or fragile material will simply be added to the vault.