Reading Room Access
The Patricia Lennon Archive Center’s Reading Room is open (Thursdays, 10am-noon; Saturdays, noon-3pm; by appointment) to all interested researchers (professional or amateur)—although we do require that researchers register with us, when they first visit. There is no charge for accessing the PLAC collections in person, although HSH always appreciates donations and welcomes new members at any time.
The Patricia Lennon Archives Center is a closed-stacks, non-circulating collection—this means that researchers are not able to explore the collection shelves themselves but that the archivist and volunteers page (retrieve) items that the researchers would like to view. Researchers should submit lists of material that they’d like to see at the archives, at least 48 hours before they visit, as the archivist may not be able to retrieve items on the day. Visitors can consult the archival collections catalog, the pamphlets and printed ephemera catalog, and the library catalog of traditionally published books and submit their requests to the archivist via email ([email protected]). The archivist is always happy to suggest appropriate ways into a research topic before the researcher’s first visit.
Research Assistance & Research Fees
The archivist and HSH volunteers will, of course, be happy to help with questions that researchers might have about their research during in person visits.
However, if you are unable to visit the Patricia Lennon Archives Center yourself, because of time constraints or because you are not in the area, the archivist and HSH volunteers can undertake a limited amount of research on your behalf for a fee.
Please submit your question to the archivist, via email, and say that you won’t be able to visit PLAC. The archivist will then draw up a list of resources that they and the volunteers can consult to answer your question. They will submit this and an estimate for how much time they expect to spend on the question.
Research services are billed in 30-minute increments and payment is required in advance. If it is possible to answer the question in less than 15 minutes, there is no charge. (For example: “Can you send me a copy of the Borough’s tax assessment file for 221B Regular Street?”; “Are there any pictures of Elizabeth Haddon?”)
- Members: Every membership year, the first two hours of research time are free then $5/ 30-minute increment. Unused hours are not carried over into the next year.
- Non-Members: $15/ 30-minute increment.
Please note that it will typically take our team 3-6 weeks to complete a research request and that time spent on a research question does not guarantee a proportionately lengthy set of findings.
Photocopies, Photographs, Scans, and Other Reproductions
Researchers who would like to request copies of materials in our collections should refer to the policy page on “Copyright, Copies, & Image Use.”