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For faculty papers, see manuscript collections

Davis R. Dewey to President Richard Maclaurin, May 11, 1915, regarding the names to be carved into MIT's new buildings. MIT Office of the President Records (AC 13).

The Institute's records, or the "archives collections," form the core of the Institute Archives holdings. These permanent records are a small portion of all the records created at the Institute. They are collected from Institute executive and administrative bodies; schools and degree programs; centers and labs; committees, councils and associations; student organizations; and associated or affiliated programs.

The types of materials found in the archival collections include minutes, correspondence, reports, financial records, drawings and plans, some visual materials, printed matter, and other records produced in the course of Institute business. Though the bulk of the Archives holdings document Institute activity in the twentieth century, the earliest records date to 1859. Although listed as separate collections in the Institute Archives, the MIT publications also serve as permanent records of Institute activity, and the MIT theses stored by the Archives are the record copies of this student degree requirement.

All records generated or received by the various administrative and academic offices of the Institute in the conduct of their business, regardless of the form in which they are created and maintained, are the property of the Institute and constitute potential archival material. Although the Institute Archives has yet to formulate, with others on campus, policies for the permanent retention of select categories of electronic records, we are beginning to explore these issues.