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Archives & Special Collections

Learn about CSUMB Archives and Special Collecitions

archives and special collections reading roomWelcome to CSUMB Archives and Special Collections

This guide will help you start your research in Archives and Special Collections at Cal State, Monterey Bay's Tanimura and Antle Family Memorial Library. Archives and Special Collections is home to the library's unique and original material related to the university, as well as the local history of neighboring communities and organizations. 

Resources found in Archives and Special Collections can be used to support research in a variety of subject areas and disciplines.

Introduction to Archives

What are Archives?

According to the Society of American Archivists, archives  are "records created or received by a person, family, or organization and preserved because of their continuing value."

This means that archival records are:

  • Primary sources
  • Created by individuals, groups, and institutions in the course of their work
  • Often unique records that are not duplicated elsewhere
  • Usually unpublished and not intended for publication​
  • Selected for preservation because of "continuing value"

These materials are kept because they have continuing value to the record creators and to other potential users. Archival records do not interpret past events, but instead contain the documentary evidence of past events that we use to interpret and understand history.