The Arkansas State Archives takes archival material that is culturally and historically significant to Arkansas. Archival material includes: state agency records, family papers, business or organizational records, county and school records, ledgers, newspapers, photographs, compiled family histories, scrapbooks, film, negatives, electronic records, art, artifacts and more. The ASA collaborates with The Black History Commission of Arkansas (BHCA) to acquire historically significant material on black communities across the state.

If your material uniquely helps tell part of the story of Arkansas and can benefit historians or genealogists, it may qualify! We would love to hear from you if you need additional guidance. We encourage you to call, email or use the “Donate Materials” form on our website and talk to a staff member about how to donate your materials.

Typically, the first step is for an archivist to perform a quick assessment of your materials. Then, we may ask you to fill out a deed of gift, which legally transfers the material to the ASA. A copy of the deed will be sent to you once it has all the appropriate signatures. Depending on where you are located and how much you are donating, we will work with you to move the material to the appropriate ASA facility.

Yes. The Arkansas State Archives' main offices are located in Little Rock, near the State Capitol, but the agency maintains two regional archives branches. The Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives (NEARA) at Powhatan collects material on a 16-county region in northeast Arkansas. The Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA) collects material on a 12-county region in southwest Arkansas.

Your donation is carefully processed by trained staff members to ensure its longevity. Using archival standards, the material is then described and made available for research.

We understand that your materials may be very important to your family or organization. The ASA has options for copying your materials including microfilming and scanning. Another option is to include the ASA, NEARA, SARA or BHCA in your will as the recipient of your records or artifacts.