The Economic Impact of Archives: Surveys of Users of Government Archives in Canada and the United States

Economic impact analyses have not been widely conducted in archives. As a result, the best methodological approach to apply to archives is unknown. This article presents results from two parallel surveys on the economic impact of government archives (state, provincial, territorial, county, and municipal) in the United States and Canada that used indirect measures. It also discusses methodological issues surrounding the measurement of economic impact in archives, libraries, and museums. Although the findings indicate that government archives do support local economies by bringing people into a region or city for research, this impact is moderate. The analyses point to the importance of considering other types of impact, such as social and cultural, alongside economic impact as equally important measures of archives' role in society. The conclusions discuss these findings as well as the need for additional research on direct measures of economic impact and other types of impact to fully understand how archives contribute to their local economies.