TYPES OF ARCHIVES

College/University Archives: College and university archives collect

materials that were produced by and relate to the institution. These
archives are located on or nearby campus and are easy to access
resources to use during your time as a student. These archives serve the
college/university community but are open to all researchers. As this is
the first time many students use the archives, university archivists and
librarians will have resources for new users and can provide guidance
with your research. Colleges and universities may also have archives
called Special Collections, which are archives that hold material that are
considered rare or valuable.

Examples: The Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

(New York University),Kent State University Special Collections and
Archives

Inside Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at New York

University

Historical society archives: Historical society archives collect materials

relating to local history, a historical period, or a subject. Your town,
county, or state may have one or multiple historical societies which can
be useful for research on local history or genealogical research. Many
historical societies also have their own interesting history as to why they
formed and began to collect these materials.

Examples: New-York Historical Society, Monmouth County Historical

Association, American Jewish Historical Society
 New-York Historical Society building

Community Archives: Community archives are archives in which the self-

defined community takes control of their historical record by
participating in decisions about what materials are collected and how
those materials are described and used. Community archives can form
based on the desire by the community to collect and preserve materials
of a shared experience that is absent or misrepresented in a traditional
archive. A community archive can be a completely independent
organization or one that collaborates with a traditional archival
institution.

Examples: A People’s Archive of Police Violence in Cleveland, NYC

Trans Oral History Project,Interference Archive, Lesbian Herstory
Archive,South Asian American Digital Archive

“Womyn holding a banner for the Lesbian

Herstory Archives during the 2007 LGBT Pride March in New York”

Corporate archives: Corporate archives manage and preserve the records

of a company. Corporate archives exist to serve the needs of the business
and may not be open to public research without prior approval from the
company. Corporate archives can be an asset to a company because they
preserve policies, legal documents, financial records, and hold material
that can be valuable to their Marketing and Public Relations departments.

Examples: The Society of American Archivists has anonline Directory of

Corporate Archives in the United States and Canada

Government Archives: Government archives collect and make accessible

materials relating to local, state, or national government. The National
Archives and Records Administration is an agency of the United States
government that holds historical and government records.

Examples: National Archives and Records Administration, NYC

Municipal Archives

National Archives building

Religious Archives: Religious archives collect and preserve records of

their faith. Religious archives can vary in terms of size, what they collect,
and how they are organized. The materials may be open to the public or
may only serve members of the religion of which the records were
created.

Examples: Archdiocese of Newark Archives,American Jewish Archives

The Jacob Rader Center of the American Jewish

Archives