Q. What digitization services do you offer for material in Special Collections?

Many items from the Department’s holdings have already been digitized and are available to download via the item’s record in the Catalog or Finding Aids. 

All researchers can request up to 30 low-resolution reference images at no cost per person/project per 6 months. The turnaround time is approximately 10 business days, depending on the complexity of the request. 

For larger orders, the following applies:

Princeton University Community (Current students, faculty and staff):

There is no cost for digitization of Special Collections materials housed in Firestone and Mudd Libraries for the Princeton University community.

In order to provide effective and equitable service to all Princeton researchers, requests are limited to approximately 300 pages per person/project per 6 months. Published materials may be further limited due to copyright restrictions. Due to the current large demand, we cannot guarantee turnaround times, but will strive for 4-6 weeks. There is no rush option. Should you believe you are in need of services that do not align with our order fulfillment period or page limits, please reach out to us to discuss it further. All orders will be delivered to an active @princeton.edu email address.

Non-Princeton University Community (includes alumni):

A per-image charge of $2.00 will be applied to all new photography digitization requests for researchers outside of the Princeton community. These will be delivered as TIFF or PDF files depending on the size of the order. The turnaround time on digitization requests up to 300 pages is approximately 6-8 weeks after receipt of payment. There is no rush option.

While we are accepting new digitization requests again from non-Princeton researchers, the processing time may be extended while we implement new procedures.

To place a digitization request, please contact us through the Ask Special Collections Form.

While we will do our best to provide the requested materials, there may be limitations due to format, conservation and/or copyright concerns. Please note that digital content is only provided for research and publication purposes. Copies of material held in Princeton Special Collections cannot be added to the holdings of other archives, libraries, or museums. Staff are happy to work with researchers on finding the best path forward.

Please review the Copyright, Credit, and Citation Guidelines page for more information on publishing from the collections.

Audio Visual Materials

At this time, we are not accepting new requests for digitization of audiovisual material in the collections.