Report
Mapping the Landscape of Community-Based Archives
Community-Based Archives
History, in the Hands of the People
What is kept—and what may be lost—shapes how we understand the past, present, and future. Across the United States, people are taking preservation into their own hands.
Community-based archives are independent organizations that collect and care for the objects and stories of their local communities. They preserve primary records, photos, and more pieces of history that might otherwise go unsaved.
In San Francisco, the archives of El Tecolote, California’s longest-running bilingual publication, recount the local news and history of the city’s Mission District.
Across the country in Virginia, the Christiansburg Institute Museum and Archives documents the 100-year-old history of the first high school in the region to educate formerly enslaved people.
A new report maps the U.S. landscape of community-based archives like these and shows why they matter.
Community-based archives carry out their mission work outside the walls of institutions where archives are often kept—think, libraries, colleges, or universities.
Community-based archives are often independent organizations like tribal nations, neighborhood museums, or even local unincorporated collectives. They are the spaces and places that are rooted in the lives, people, and experiences of their locality. Regardless of their organizational structure, community-based archives play a critical role in preventing the loss or erasure of historical narratives, in sustaining cultural heritage, and in actively engaging people in the act of preserving local history.
Since 2020, the Mellon Foundation has awarded more than $40 million to over 100 community-based archives nationwide, helping strengthen infrastructure, expand access, and support community-led stewardship.
Here are a few of their stories—and resources to learn more.
Patricia Hswe
Program Director, Public Knowledge
Mellon Foundation
“These archives center and celebrate people whose histories have long been overlooked, misunderstood, or largely lost yet remain ineluctably woven in the fabric of America’s being.”
Christiansburg Institute, Inc.
Yearbooks and Uniforms: Inside the Christiansburg Institute, Inc.’s Community Archives
Women in Dialogue
Protest Banners and Strike Demands: Inside the Wages for Housework Community Archives
The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
Love Letters and Chorus Cassette Tapes: Inside The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
Acción Latina
Local News and Street Art: Inside El Tecolote’s Community Archives
Archival materials courtesy of Acción Latina’s El Tecolote Archives, Christiansburg Institute Museum and Archives, Shorefront NFP, the Faulkner Morgan Archive, the Huna Heritage Digital Archive, The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive, and the Wages for Housework Community Archives.