South Dakota State Historical Society

The State Archives of the South Dakota State Historical Society is located at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre, SD. The State Archives collects, preserves, and provides access to records documenting the history of South Dakota and its people.

The Cultural Heritage Center is currently closed for construction. We expect to reopen to the public in 2025. Although the Research Room is closed, you can still submit research requests for records! Visit our Research Services page for more information.

Contact Information

Hours

Fees

Fee Schedule (View as PDF)

Effective September 8, 2020

Foreign patrons must send their fees in U.S. dollars. We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.

The State Historical Society reserves the right to refuse requests for research, digitization, or reproduction if, in the opinion of the State Archivist, the act would produce an undue burden on staff, or would result in damage, inappropriate use, and/or dissemination of State Archives collections.

Discounts
Visiting K-12 and postsecondary students receive 50% off photocopies and digital reproduction fees.
South Dakota State Historical Society members receive 10% off research services and photocopying fees. Members also receive a $5.00 discount on digital reproduction fees for photographs and maps.
Discounts do not apply to services provided by the Special Projects Program.

Research Services
$15.00	Search of a single record (e.g. one obituary or naturalization record) that requires less than 30 minutes to complete.
$25.00 per hour	Search of multiple records and resources. Includes up to 10 photocopies or 2 microfilm copies and standard mailing.
$30.00 per hour + costs	Other services not listed.

Photocopies
$0.25 per page	Letter (8.5"x11") or Legal (8.5"x14")
$0.50 per page	11"x17", black and white
$1.00 per page	11"x17", color
$5.00 per page	larger than 11"x17", black and white
$10.00 per page	larger than 11"x17", color
$1.00 per page	Any size printed from microfilm reader

$0.50 per page	Survey notes
$3.00 per plat	Survey plats

Certification
$10.00	Certification of a single record

Digital Camera
$15.00 per day	Unlimited use of a personal digital camera for text-based documents

Digital Reproduction Fees
Note: These fees include delivery by email or file sharing service. Delivery by USB flash drive costs an additional $5.00.

Scanning of Physical Items
$15.00 per scan	For high-resolution scans of photographs and maps State Historical Society members; South Dakota state, local, and tribal government agencies; and South Dakota not-for-profit organizations pay $10 per scan.
$2.00 per scan	For other text-based materials

Reproduction of Existing Digital Files (previously digitized or born-digital)
$15.00 per file	Digital photographs and maps State Historical Society members; South Dakota state, local, and tribal government agencies; and South Dakota not-for-profit organizations pay $10 per file.
$10.00 per file	Digital audio and video recordings
$1.00 per page, with a maximum of $25.00 per file	Reproduction of text-based digital files

Interlibrary Loan Services
Available for newspaper microfilm only. Prepayment by check, money order, or credit card is required. College and university libraries may be billed by email invoice with prior permission.

$10.00 per reel	Interlibrary loan A maximum of four reels per request
$50.00 per reel	Replacement cost for lost microfilm

Reels are due back to the State Archives five weeks after receipt. A 30-day microfilm ILL extension can be granted, if the State Archives is notified prior to the due date by phone or email. Otherwise, a $10.00 per reel late fee will be charged.

Use Fees
Use fees are charged when items from the collections are published and are in addition to any reproduction fees. They must be paid, and a Use Form completed, prior to publication. Payment of the use fee does not constitute permission to reproduce works that are copyrighted. Use fees are non-refundable, and are used to support the preservation and maintenance of our collections.

No use fees	Private use, public lectures, classroom instruction, or research
No fees up to 10 items per project	South Dakota State Historical Society Members
In-State: $10.00 per item Out-of-State: $25.00 per item International: $30.00 per item	For-Profit Corporations, Partnerships, Private Businesses, and Individuals
In-State: no fee Out-of-State: $10.00 per item	Not-for-Profit Organizations (must provide proof of status)
In-State: no fee Out-of-State: $10.00 per item	Government Agencies (state, local, or tribal)

Special Projects Program Services
Notes: Scanning fees include delivery by file sharing service. Delivery by USB flash drive costs an additional $5.00. Discounts do not apply to services provided by the Special Projects Program.

$40.00 per reel	Microfilm Reproduction

Microfilm Scanning (16mm or 35mm, greyscale or bitonal)
$0.10 per image	TIFF/JPEG
$0.10 per image	PDF/Crop/Split Pages
$0.20 per image	Bookmarking/Indexing
$0.20 per image	OCR

$0.30 per page	Scanning (books, volumes, and other large-scale scanning projects)
$30.00 per hour plus costs	Other Services

Mission Statement

Collection Policy

State Archives Collection Development Policy

The South Dakota State Legislature's principal mandate to our State Historical Society is "to provide education of the public in the fields of history." (SDCL 1-18-3) In order to fulfill that mission, South Dakota Codified Law (SDCL 1-18B-2) requires that the Society "collect, preserve, exhibit and publish material for the study of history, especially the history of this and adjacent states . . . acquire documents and manuscripts . . . obtain narratives and records of pioneers; conduct a library of historical reference . . . diffuse information relating to the history of the region and in general encourage and develop within the state the study of history."

The South Dakota State Archives is one of the state-funded programs through which the Historical Society accomplishes these tasks. The purpose of the Archives' Collection Development Policy is to provide guidelines for staff in the appraisal and acquisition of those published and unpublished materials which will fulfill the Legislature's mandate, and to inform the public and our colleagues of our collecting policies and interests.

Statement of Collecting Interests and Priorities:

COLLECTING INTERESTS:

The State Archives exists to collect, preserve, process/catalogue and provide reference access to those primary and secondary research sources, regardless of format, which best document the political, social, cultural, economic and natural history of Dakota territory and the State of South Dakota, its political subdivisions and citizenry; and those secondary (published) sources which similarly document the history of adjacent states with which South Dakota's history is closely intertwined.
Donation Form

PRIORITIES:

Government Records

As a state agency, our first duty is to collect and provide professional care for permanently valuable records of state/territorial and local government and those published materials, particularly government documents, which complement our records collections. Permanent value of government records may be established 1) by the State Records Destruction Board through formal records retention scheduling procedures (see SDCL Chapter 1-27) or 2) by appraisal by the State Archivist or his/her designee. The State Legislature has defined state and local government records in SDCL 1-27-9.

South Dakota and Regional History

While the State Archives' primary responsibility is to serve as a repository for those state and local government records and publications which have continuing research value, the Archives also accepts donations of materials which fall within our collecting guidelines but which were not created in the transaction of official state or local government business. The Archives may also purchase such material when donation is not a possibility. These materials may include federal government records, personal papers and manuscripts, records of private businesses and organizations, photographic images, maps and architectural and engineering documents, sound and video recordings, books, machine-readable records, and other types of records or publications which document aspects of the history of our region's people, natural resources, and their interaction.

Special Library Materials

In addition to adherence to collection policies outlined for the Archives above, the Archives' library unit actively collects materials to be added to our large genealogical reference library; serials published in South Dakota; and support literature for professionals in the fields of archives/historical library and museum administration and curatorship, archaeology, historical preservation, and conservation science.

Digital Records

The South Dakota State Archives is committed to collecting, preserving, and providing access to primary and secondary resources which document the political, social, cultural, economic, and natural history of Dakota Territory and the State of South Dakota. Increasingly, these resources are created and maintained in digital formats. In response, the State Archives has established a Digital Preservation Program designed to ensure long-term access to digital materials.

Materials Not Collected

Generally, the State Archives does not actively collect: three-dimensional objects (such items may be accepted, however, in conjunction with a manuscripts or record collection and separated by prior arrangement to the most appropriate state museum or added to the Archives' ephemera collections if the items are small in size); public records of other states or manuscript material which does not pertain to South Dakota history; published material which does not pertain to our regional history; the paper originals of newspapers or newspaper clippings (we do collect and preserve South Dakota newspapers on microfilm and we encourage persons owning paper originals to check with the State Archives to determine whether the papers they own have been filmed). The published works of South Dakota authors will be actively collected only if they fall within our general collecting guidelines.

About the Archives

Contact Information

Hours

Fees

Mission Statement

Collection Policy

Harmful Content Policy

Take-Down Policy

Outreach

Staff