China Historical Society
Effective date: June 19, 2026
The China Historical Society is a small volunteer nonprofit in China, Maine. We collect as little information about you as we can, and we never sell it to anyone. This page explains what little we do collect and why.
What we collect
The contact form. If you write to us through the contact form, you provide your name, email address, and message. Your submission is delivered to us by email. It is not stored on this website.
Spam screening. To keep the contact form usable, submissions are automatically checked by Akismet, a spam-filtering service operated by Automattic Inc. This means the information you submit (including your name, email address, message, and IP address) is sent to Akismet for the sole purpose of telling spam from real mail. You can read Akismet’s privacy notes at automattic.com/privacy.
Website analytics. We use Google Analytics, a service provided by Google, to see how the site is used — for example, how many people visit and which pages are most read. It collects standard, non-identifying usage information (such as the pages you view, your general location, and your device type) using cookies, and shares it with Google, which handles it under its own privacy policy (policies.google.com/privacy). We use it only to understand and improve the site, never to identify you. If you would rather not be counted, you can install Google’s opt-out add-on (tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout).
Server logs. Like nearly every website, our hosting provider keeps routine technical logs (such as IP addresses, browser type, and pages visited) for security and maintenance. We do not use these logs to identify visitors.
Otherwise, we keep it minimal. Apart from the analytics cookie described above, this site does not set cookies for ordinary visitors, does not show advertising, and does not offer visitor accounts.
How we use your information
If you write to us, we use your name and email address to write back. If you ask about membership, a donation, a research question, or offer us historical materials, we use your message to follow up on that — and for nothing else.
What we share
Nothing, with these narrow exceptions: contact-form submissions pass through Akismet for spam screening; site-usage information is shared with Google through Google Analytics (both described above); and we would disclose information if the law required it. We do not sell, rent, or trade anyone’s information.
How long we keep it
Correspondence is kept in our email for as long as it is useful for Society business — for example, ongoing research help or membership records — and is deleted when it no longer is.
Your choices
You can browse this entire site without telling us anything about yourself, and you can opt out of our analytics using Google’s add-on (linked above). If you would rather not use the contact form, you can always reach us by mail at China Historical Society, PO Box 34, South China, ME 04358. If you would like to know what correspondence we have from you, or want it deleted, write to us and we will take care of it.
Children
Our site is meant for general audiences and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Links to other sites
Our site links to outside services — for example, our Facebook page. Once you leave our site, the privacy practices of those services apply, not ours.
Changes to this policy
If our practices change — for example, if we add online membership payments in the future — we will update this page and change the effective date above. Significant changes will be noted on the page.
Questions
Write to us at chinahistoricalsociety@gmail.com or China Historical Society, PO Box 34, South China, ME 04358.