During October the United States celebrates American Archives Month. This annual celebration highlights the critical role archives and archivists play in collecting, preserving, and making available records of enduring value. Archives support collective memory, are vital for organizational administration, help document history, promote governmental transparency, and protect people’s rights, identities, and property.
Archivists often do a variety of tasks including selection and appraisal of records, arrangement and description of collections, reference work, promotion and outreach, and preservation administration. Because archives generally contain unique materials, they often have different use procedures from other departments in libraries.
HSLIC Special Collections contains over 300 archival collections as well as photograph collections and artifacts. These materials help document the history of health and healthcare in New Mexico. Please check out our How to Use Special Collections guide for more information and learn about our archival holdings at HSLIC.
And stay tuned for an archives-themed blog post each week in October!