About the Archives

The Institute Archives and Special Collections serves as the "memory" of MIT, collecting and preserving records that document MIT's history and the people who have been a part of that history. The collections include both published and unpublished materials in various formats.

The following are among the subjects documented in the collections:

The founding and growth of MIT
The work and discoveries of MIT's faculty and students
Current issues of the Institute and their evolution
The development of modern science and technology and its impact on society
The role of scientists and engineers in the formation of US science policy
MIT's influence in the world beyond the Cambridge campus

The collections:

The official records of the Institute
Selected personal and professional papers of MIT faculty, staff, and students and some records of non-MIT persons and organizations whose activities complement the Archives' holdings
MIT publications
MIT theses
The MIT rare book collections

The research materials in the Institute Archives are complemented by the collections at the MIT Museum.

Department goals:

To support the administration, research, and teaching of the MIT community.
To encourage the use of its collections by researchers outside the Institute.
To administer MIT's Records Management Program and advise administrative and academic offices on records-keeping practices for non-permanent records.

A list of works produced using our collections includes books, articles, reports, dissertations, television programs, and exhibits created by an international roster of scholars, including members of the MIT community.