How To Use the Archives

Browse or search through the indexes of available Archives’ documents. Select those documents you wish to buy and add them to the Cart. The documents you receive will be in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (available for free download). You will receive a link to your documents via email so be certain to include a valid email address.

At checkout, those with prearranged Research Grants from the Heinlein Prize Trust select Research Grant Form. Research Grant files will be delivered when the order has been approved, usually within 24 hours.

All others choose the credit card option. VISA, MasterCard, and Discover cards are accepted. Your personalized documents will be delivered to your email address after payment has been processed.

Delivery time will vary depending on the size of your order, ranging from a few minutes for small files to several hours for large files and orders. It is recommended you limit yourself to no more than four files per single order.

Most of these files are extremely large. The largest files--such as "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" at 2194 pages--have been broken down into files of less than 300 pages each. These will still result in downloadable files of 80-200mb. A broadband connection is strongly recommended. Don’t try this with a dial-up. Dial-up download speeds are not supported.

If you have trouble with the download:

  • Clear your browser cache/temporary Internet files and try again. 
  • SAVE your documents rather than just opening them.
  • Download one document at a time from the links so the connection won’t time out.
  • Download links expire in a few days so be sure you have saved your document.
  • Large orders may take several hours. If it's been a day or more, check your spam filter. Make sure emails from archives@heinleinarchives.net aren't being filtered out. If it's not in your spam filter, please query archives@heinleinarchives.net . 
  • Research grants may take 24 hours or more to be processed. If it's been more than two days and your documents haven't arrived, please query at archives@heinleinarchives.net .

For other problems or questions contact the Archives at: archives@heinleinarchives.net. The Heinlein Archives has no full-time staff, so please be patient when waiting for a reply.