Archival collections are the accumulated records created by people, families or organizations as they lived their lives and did their work. They are a particular kind of primary source and they provide a direct view into the past from the perspective of specific people or groups. These accumulated records are usually organized into groups of materials called collections, and the materials in each collection generally come from the person or organization that created them. This approach preserves important context among the records in that collection, and a connection to who created them.

Some archival collections are large (hundreds of boxes of files) while others may be really small (a single diary, a few letters, a single photograph album).

Archival collections reflect the range of ways that people have recorded and shared information throughout time. Bound ledgers, files of documents, photographs, film, emails and other digital records, and sound and video recordings may all be found in archival collections.

Archival repositories are often simply called archives, and they provide researchers with access to the archival collections in their care. When an archival repository is within a larger research library, it might be part of a department called “special collections” or “distinctive collections.” At UC Santa Cruz, for instance, the University Library’s Special Collections & Archives department is where you’ll find the university’s archival collections.

Archival repositories can be giant federal agencies - like the National Archives and Records Administration, which oversees the historical records of the federal government - or smaller standalone archives in community centers, private institutions, and corporations.