University Archives Student Research Guide: Archives & Primary Sources
Archives and Archivists
What are Archives?
Archives are the materials created by people, institutions, governments, and other organizations over the course of their activities. Archival materials possess enduring, historical value. Pretty much anything can be part of an archive, including paper documents, photographs, film and audio recordings, works of art, and other artifacts. Archives can contain analog (physical) and born-digital materials, including digital documents, photographs, and emails.
The word "archive" has multiple meanings:
- It refers to the records themselves.
- It refers to the facility in which they are stored (e.g. 420 Capen).
- It refers to the organization that manages both.
What is an archivist?
Archivists are people who appraise, process, and preserve permanent records and historically valuable materials. Archivists are responsible for physically preserving the materials and making them accessible for research use.
University Archives
The University Archives is one of the four repositories that, together, make up the UB Libraries Special Collections. The University Archives is a hybrid repository, collecting institutional records of the university, private papers of individuals associated with UB, and manuscript collections that document local and regional history.
National Archives (NARA) stacks, circa 2012
(NARAtions, 2012)
Primary Sources
Special Collections houses most of UB Libraries’ primary source materials. Primary sources are created at the time under study and serve as original evidence documenting a time period, event, person, idea, or work. Primary sources include manuscript and archival materials in any format, such as paper, audio/visual, or born-digital. Specific items may include literary manuscripts, diaries, clothing, personal belongings, artifacts, and printed material. Secondary sources are usually scholarly works of analysis and criticism, such as an academic publication or a literary work. Secondary sources are often based on studying primary sources. Tertiary sources include encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Students build snow whale for Winter Carnival, circa 1965
#80H (128)
Libraries vs. Archives
Libraries and archives both provide access to information. However, they serve this purpose in different ways.
Libraries:
- Contain individual items, e.g. a single book, that can be loaned and taken out of the library.
- Contain published, commonly available materials.
- Open stacks—you can take the books off the shelves yourself.
- Materials are consciously produced. For example, an author writes a book with the goal of publication.
Archives:
- Contain collections of items, which are non-circulating, for use in the archives reading room.
- Can contain unpublished manuscript materials.
- Closed stacks—you request the materials, and an archivist retrieves them for you.
- Materials are organically produced. In other words, these collections are produced in the context of “doing business,” whether professional or personal.