Representation through Documentation: Acquiring Student and Campus Life Records through the Bruin Archives Project

Archival graduate students, archivists, and student affairs professionals collaboratively established the Bruin Archives Project at UCLA, an initiative that enables collecting, arranging, describing, and making available archival materials relating to student and campus activities in a university setting. Both university archivists and archival students recognize that only a small portion of archival holdings represent student-generated materials and that such materials offer a rich portrayal of the social and intellectual life of the university. This case study analyzes the methods for supporting acquisition and use of such materials, offering a model for emulation at other campuses.