Creating a Digital Community Archive


Tips for Creating a Digital Community Archive

  • Define your community archive: what is it about? Write a mission statement that clearly spells out the archive’s purpose and its collection’s focus. Spend some time researching your topic to see if an archive with the same focus has already been created. 
  • Consult local community and university archives in your area for advice. Most archivists are happy to meet with and discuss the value and challenges of creating a community archive. We also suggest you consult an “Archivist Toolkit.” Several have been developed to help you plan your digital community archive and most are free to use. 
  • Outreach to other community members that might be interested in creating an archive and have knowledge of the community and can spread the word. Growing a collection is successful when relationships are prioritized. 

New to community archives? Try these sites first.

Digging deeper? Take a look at these.

International resources and perspectives (in English)

Recursos en Español

Examples of digital community archives

A photo slide held up to the light showing two people in the picture

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