The Custodial History Note described changes of ownership or custody of the material being described, between the time it left the possession of the creator and when it was acquired by the repository.This note is predominantly used when material came to Distinctive Collections from an internal MIT source. In practice, other custodial history situations are rare in the typical collections Distinctive Collections brings in.Transfer information is recorded in the Immediate Source of Acquisition note.
| Examples |
|---|
| Papers given to Library in 1930 and later transferred to Distinctive Collections. |
| Records given to the MIT Museum and transferred to Distinctive Collections in 2015. |
| Norbert Wiener notebooks originally sold to manuscript dealer, Fake Manuscript Dealer, Inc. in 1997 by his daughter Jane Doe Wiener. Purchased by Oprah Winfrey in 1998 and remained in her possession until donation to Distinctive Collections in 2007. |
| Professor John Q. Public’s research files were originally stored on his office computer in Cambridge, MA. The files were transferred to an via external hard drive by the executor of his estate in 2011 and kept in her home until transfer to Distinctive Collections in 2020. |