Fonds - University Archives fonds

The original college Archives and Documents Committee was established on July 1, 1979 under President John L. Haar with six appointed members, four Ex-Officio members and representatives of the Students' Union and Graduate Students' Association. The Chairman was H. M. Lysons of Educational Foundations. The Committee was reconvened in May 1981 at the request of the Executive Officers' Committee. The membership comprised two of the original Archives Committee members; the heads of the Learning Resources Centres and the General Arts and Science Program. Over time, under the guidance of the Committee, records were assembled in the Learning Resource Centre. During the summers of 1985 and 1986 two archival students carried out basic selection, organization and documentation work on the collection. In 1998 with space a pressing issue in the LRC, that office recommended the transfer of the College archives collection to the Provincial Archives of Alberta.

With the establishment of a continuing Records Management Advisor position in the College in May 2000 responsibility for archives liaison role became a Records Management responsibility. A review of the archival collection Accessions Register by the Records Management Advisor and FOIP Coordinator found that numerous files containing staff and student personal information had inadvertently been included in the archival gift when it was donated to the Provincial Archives of Alberta in 1998. With the cooperation of the PAA, the MacEwan Archival collection was returned to the custody and control of the college in April 2003. Subsequently a major project was undertaken to remove sensitive and personal files. The collection was scheduled to be returned to the PAA in 2004.

The Archives rejoined the Library in 2013 when Valla McLean, Humanities Librarian, was appointed University Archivist. In 2014, space for holdings and a reading room were designated in room 7-305 at City Centre Campus and an Archives Technician joined the staff. The grand opening for the Archives was held in June 2017. In 2019, the Archives became an institutional member of the Archives Society of Alberta.