A history of the City of Regina Archives, 1929--2004

The City of Regina Archives is a relative newcomer to the Canadian archival landscape, opening in 1985. However, the records that make up this unique, diverse and detailed collection have a history of their own that predates their 'official coming-out party' in 1985.; This case study will outline the development of the archival holdings that make up the City of Regina Archives. It will attempt to show how this archival collection was initially shaped and formed through an in-house records management program focused on the collection's administrative and legal functions and then by a broader, historical and cultural emphasis, all without its creating agency having in place a fully developed archival program. It will also outline how a co-operative arrangement between the City of Regina and the provincial archival authority, the Saskatchewan Archives Board, concluded in 1985, gave the corporation an opportunity to establish its own municipal archives and to give its records the long-term care and accessibility they required.; This arrangement proved beneficial to all those involved until the year 2002 when the City of Regina and the Saskatchewan Archives Board went their separate ways, leaving a new City of Regina Archives fully independent and anxious to find its way in the Canadian archival community and the corporation it is mandated to serve.; This history will help fill a perceived gap in Canadian archival literature by adding a new chapter to the understanding of municipal archives in Canada.