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University and college archives
- Collect and preserve institutional memory
- Some have records management programs
- Typically have materials in all formats (textual records, photographic material, moving images, etc.)
- Some have research collections (often called “manuscripts” or “special collections”)
- Typically focus research collections on specific subject areas
Government archives
- Municipal, provincial/state, federal records
- Public mandate
- Many have research collections (often called “manuscripts” or “special collections”) relevant to their geographic location and scope
Religious archives
- Traditions and institutions of major faiths, denominations, or individual places of worship
- Varying degrees of public access
- Location of records depends on approach to archives management (consolidated or federated)
Community archives and historical societies
- Preserves history of a region, historical period, theme or subject
- Often managed by community volunteers or “lone arrangers”
Museum archives
- Museums and archives share similar goals but collect different types of material and use different standards and best practices
- Some museums include libraries and/or archives in addition to their collections of artifacts and/or artwork
- Some archives have museum objects in their archival collections
- Many museum archives in Nova Scotia
Corporate archives
- Usually a department of a company that collects and preserves institutional memory
- Serve the needs of the corporation
- Varying degrees of public access