Locating Archives

Having selected the kind of archives you wish to work with, the next challenge is finding the specific archival institution you wish to visit online or in person. Many archives provide a selection of their resources online, but since this still only represents a small subset of the archival materials available, a trip to the archives you hope to work with will be invaluable for your research. Visiting an archives website, though, can certainly help you assess whether the archives does, in fact, hold the records you hope to work with. Archives websites are also valuable for helping you plan your research trip (in terms of knowing what to and what not to bring, knowing research room hours and regulations, etc.).

Archives of the federal government:

The US National Archives & Records Administration (NARA)

Archives of states:

Local archival collections and historical societies, large manuscript repositories, and many institutional archives

Directory of Repositories of Primary Sources at the University of Idaho Library - Department of Special Collections
UNESCO Archives Portal (includes US and international archives)
National Union Catalog of Manuscripts Collections (NUCMC) (this daunting resources provided by the Library of Congress offers access to the cataloging records of many university archives, historical societies, and other archives)
US State Historical Societies and State Archives Directory
Archives USA (this subscription database available from UMI Proquest provides information about over 5,000 repositories and nearly 150,000 specific collections within them).

Institutional archives

As well as within the resources above, some institutional archives are listed in directories by institution type. Especially useful is the Directory of Corporate Archives in the United States and Canada

Other resources

The Directory of Archival Associations in the United States and Canada, though not a directory of archives themselves, is a valuable resource for locating archival organizations (by region and focus) and through the, for finding access to specific archives.
The Moving Image Collections Catalog This catalog, sponsored by the Library of Congress, the Association of Moving Image Archivists, and the National Science Foundation provides information about a great number of national and international moving image (and some audio) archives.

Selected Archival Collections and Digital Libraries

Digital Archives, Libraries, Databases, and Links

History