Personal Archiving

For historians the personal papers of everyday people are the great discoveries of the work we do. It can be argued that personal archives – personal papers of everyday people – are more important and more significant to the study of human history than the papers of the great, the famous or the infamous.​ Plus there are more of us – everyday people – than there are of them (great/famous/infamous) and the details of our lives are going to tell a more accurate story of how we lived.​ The papers, photographs, and letters you have stored in your basements, attics, and closets can show us how things used to be done and how things in our world have changed.

This initiative is part of CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art’s DIY Memory Lab Project. The CALS DIY Memory Lab Project was established as part of the DC Public Library Memory Lab Network and funded in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services with continued funding from the Mellon Foundation.

Personal Archiving Instruction