Tools and methods for community archivists
A practical resource library of tools, technical standards, and methodologies organized by life stage and purpose: from rapid crisis capture to long-term preservation, advocacy, and legal accountability. Find archives on the Archives Registry.
Capture · Build · Sustain: templates, tools, and challenges for the work in front of you.
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Capture
Act fast, stay safer
Urgent collecting when material may disappear: save what matters, move it off risky devices, and use simple guidance without needing archival training.
2 resourcesOpen → - 02then →
Build
Shared structure and stronger systems
Turning scattered work into something a group can run: shared storage, light cataloging, verification, security, and pathways from improvised spreadsheets to more robust infrastructure.
1 resources · 1 challengesOpen → - 03
Sustain
Keep going over time
Longer-term care for people and systems: continuity through turnover, co-ownership, and tools that remain fit for purpose without burning people out.
1 resourcesOpen →
Grouped by purpose: community stewardship first, then storytelling and media partners, then humanitarian and cultural work, then justice and formal legal pathways.
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Local contributors & community preservers
Ground-level contributors and community stewards who keep an active, trusted documentation pipeline going. Maintaining that pipeline is the foundation of the archive.
2 resourcesOpen → - 02
Investigative filmmakers
Investigative filmmakers collaborating with community archives to turn documentation into public storytelling, visibility, and sustainable partnerships.
1 resourcesOpen → - 03
Media organizations
Newsrooms and media partners that can surface community documentation, expand reach, and support licensing or collaboration pathways.
2 resourcesOpen → - 04
Humanitarian
Humanitarian assessments and response work that rely on timely, contextualized community documentation when monitoring and partnership channels are active.
1 resourcesOpen → - 05
Cultural heritage
Cultural memory and heritage preservation, including long-term academic and community partnerships against erasure.
2 resourcesOpen → - 06
Transitional justice
Community-led truth-telling, healing, and tracing missing persons. Earlier documentation efforts often serve these needs before formal international processes.
1 resourcesOpen → - 07
Fact-finding missions
Official and independent fact-finding missions that need verifiable community documentation under high evidentiary expectations.
0 resourcesOpen → - 08
International courts
International legal mechanisms with high legal and technical thresholds for evidence. Often later-stage collaborations after community ownership and viability are stronger.
0 resourcesOpen →