Online Access to Records with Personal Information
To help protect people from identity theft, bullying, and other unintended harm, the Archive will generally wait 50 years before making records with extensive personal information, such as yearbooks, publicly available online. After 50 years, these materials may have greater historical value and generally carry less personal sensitivity.
For yearbooks and similar records that are 50–60 years old, the Archive will also seek opt-in consent from batch representatives before making them publicly available online. Materials with restricted access may still be viewed through a formal request and with the approval of the Archive.
The 50-year period applies only to public online access. The Archive will continue to collect, preserve, and digitize historically valuable materials regardless of age, while taking appropriate care with personal information.
Materials less than 50 years old may still be published online when the Archive determines, after review, that they are appropriate for public access. Opt-out requests will always be respected.