Thank you for your interest in conducting research at the Brea Museum & Historical Society. Our research facility is open to community members, students, and scholars and research access to the collections is granted with prior arrangements. An approved Research Request Form must be on file before accessing the collection. You can download the Research Guidelines and Request Form 2024 and email it to info@breamuseum.org. You may also bring the form to the museum, however it should be noted that approval will take up to 72 hours before access to the collection can be granted.
All researchers are expected to follow these guidelines at all times while working with manuscripts, special collections, photographic materials, artifacts or any other materials in our collections:
Preferred Citation Chicago Turabian
- Last, First M. Photograph Title. Month Date, Year Created. Collection Museum/Institution, Location
- Wegner, Harry L. Student Folly, Red Lantern Theater. June 29, 1924. Brea Museum & Historical Society, Brea, California
Conduct
- only PENCILS are allowed; pens and markers are prohibited
- no eating, drinking, or smoking is allowed when working with our materials
- Back-packs and other book bags are not allowed when working with our materials. Laptops are permitted.
Handing
- NEVER take any materials from the research room for any reason
- Handle all documents or artifacts with great care. Gloves will be provided with certain artifacts and with photographs along with instructions on how to use them
- Be sure to maintain the exact order of documents in each file. If a document appears to be out of order, notify the archivist; do not move or rearrange the documents yourself
- NEVER make any marks on items and NEVER erase any existing marks
- most books should not be opened flat; ask for book supports when you are ready to read through books
- identify pages that you want photocopied using the bookmarks provided; do not use adhesive notes (including post-it notes) to flag pages
Making Copies
- Museum staff will photocopy any pages for you at 25cents/page. Additional charges will apply for shipping of photocopies
- you must seek and obtain permission to use digital cameras before you begin to take photographs of our materials
Copyright
- U.S. copyright law (U.S. Code, Title 17) applies to all photocopies and reproductions – including digital photographs – of copyrighted material contained in our collections. The researcher is responsible for obtaining permission to use any copyright material, literary property, or other forms of artistic or intellectual property in conformance with U.S. copyright law.
- Photocopies and digital photographs (even those taken by the researcher) are provided for research purposes only and may not be reproduced or disseminated without the express permission of the Brea Historical Society and/or the original copyright owner
- Obtaining a photocopy or a digital copy of our materials does not represent our authorization to publish or reproduce that item. When publication (in print or on-line) is desired, you must secure additional authorization; please contact the Brea Historical Society in writing to obtain the necessary permission.