ArchivesSpace

A next-generation web-based archives information management system, designed by archivists and supported by diverse archival repositories.  

ArchivesSpace is an open source, web application for managing archives information.  The application is designed to support core functions in archives administration such as accessioning; description and arrangement of processed materials including analog, hybrid, and born-digital content; management of authorities (agents and subjects) and rights; and reference service.  The application supports collection management through collection management records, tracking of events, and a growing number of  administrative reports.  The application also functions as a metadata authoring tool, enabling the generation of EAD, MARCXML, MODS, Dublin Core, and METS formatted data. 

ArchivesSpace is a program with a current staff of 5.75 FTE, a community of over 400 members, and three administrative groups—a Governance Board (elected), a Technical Advisory Council (appointed), and a User Advisory Council (appointed)—and published Bylaws.  LYRASIS is the organizational home for ArchivesSpace. 

 Background

ArchivesSpace dates from June 2009 when representatives of New York University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of California San Diego, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation agreed to integrate the Archivists’ Toolkit and Archon into a single application in order to increase overall functionality within a single application and to optimize sustainability of the application.  The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided generous funding for the first two phases of the ArchivesSpace program.  A planning phase ran from January 2010 to June 2011, during which functional specifications were drafted, a business plan was formulated, and an organizational home was secured.  A development phase ran from July 2011 to September 2013, culminating in the release of ArchivesSpace 1.0 on September 30, 2013.  There have been many releases of ArchivesSpace since the 1.0 release, all of which have served to both advance the integration of the Archivists’ Toolkit and Archon and to introduce new functionality not present in either of those precursor applications.