Information for authors and contributors
Toledo's Attic welcomes contributions of written, recorded, and photographed material to the collection. The essays are original works by authors identified in the listings and in the essays. Please note the Creative Commons License on the bottom of the page. Toledo's Attic and all contents herein are to be used for educational and scholarly purposes, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Submission guidelines:
- Essays should be submitted in Word Document (.doc, .docx) format, must be original works of the author submitting them, evidence of research such as a bibliography with citations or footnotes, and a short author biography.
- Images throughout the essay should have captions included. The images must either be original, exist in the public domain, or obtained with permissions from the copyright owner.
- Images in the following formats are accepted: TIFF, GIF, PNG, JPEG, and JPEG2000 with a resolution of 300 ppi for photographs, and 600 ppi for maps
- Submitted images should also have description, which includes the following:
- Identification of people, place, and event in the photograph (any notes on the back or edge of the photo)
- Location and date information (when and where was the picture taken? see the back of the photo)
- Who took the picture (if that information is available)
- Any other pertinent information about the photo itself (what type of film or technology was used to create the photograph)
- Any information on the social, cultural, political, etc. context (are there any notes on the back or edges of the photo?
- References and Citations in the essay should follow the MLA or Chicago styles.
- Audio copies of oral history interviews and other recordings must also abide by copyright law. Please omit segments that violate someone's personal privacy or engage in libel or slander.
- All digital content in Toledo's Attic is governed and protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 as well as the copyright law under Title 17, U.S. Code, where section 107 of which is also called the "Fair Use" doctrine.
- Authors should consider a Creative Commons License for each work published on the Web; this grants authors the necessary copyright protection of their works while allowing institutions and individuals open access to scholarly information and valuable historical knowledge. With a Creative Commons License, authors can decide on the condition of use (commercial, non-commercial, etc.) Authors submitting essays will be asked to decide on the license, and we will also assist if necessary.
- Oral history (audio) files can be saved as MP3 or WAV and sent via Dropbox or other services. Need assistance with an oral history project? We will gladly assist, just contact us!
Collecting Scope
Toledo's Attic invites donations of historical material such as historical essays, scanned photographs and original documents, and recordings to develop valuable collections. The collecting scope of Toledo's Attic is the late 19th- through the late 20th centuries in the history of Toledo and Northwest Ohio area. Toledo's Attic focuses on the commercial, industrial, and social history of this area; therefore, we ask potential contributors and donors to contact us before sending materials. Donors with questions about digitizing documents, photographs, and recordings are encouraged to contact us with their questions and receive help from qualified and experienced staff.
Deed of Gift (PDF Form)
As an alternative to the Creative Commons License, author may decide to donate essays and photographs to Toledo's Attic. We will ask donors to complete and submit the Deed of Gift form with some details about the donated material at the time of submitting them. This formality is necessary so that Toledo's Attic can continue to provide access to information in support of learning, teaching and scholarly research activities. Please open the Deed of gift form (you will need Acrobat Reader to open files in PDF format), print, complete, and submit the completed form to Toledo's Attic if using mail or fax. If you prefer submitting this form electronically (that is, as an email attachment), please scan your completed and signed form, and send it along in an email addressed to