Preserving JYF History through Institutional Archives

Museum guides and brochures. Event programs. Commemorative invitations. Presidential and royal visits.

Photographs, slides and 16mm film – these are among the records that document the development and evolution of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and its museums.

Since its inception in the mid-1950s, the JamestownYorktown Foundation (originally the Jamestown Foundation) has been collecting and preserving documents and other materials that tell the institution’s history alongside the development of the agency and its museums. These items constitute the museum archives and special collection.

As an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Foundation is mandated to maintain and preserve certain categories of records. The mission of the archives is to serve as the memory of the Foundation by caring for these records and other materials through preservation and storage. The JYF archives comprise everything from previous museum guides, programs and brochures to invitations and photographs, and even a dinner menu for Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II!

To ensure these archival pieces remain well-preserved, organized and accessible for years to come, JYF took steps in 2022 to reevaluate its agency archives and hired Anita Hoffman as project archivist to professionally maintain its institutional history. Hoffman met with members of all departments to assess their records and identify JYF archival materials and is now working to establish a policy for archival collecting and develop a plan for future retention, cataloging and storage of JYF records.

Additionally, volunteer Diana Cartwright and Sabrina Collins, a spring intern from Christopher Newport University, have assisted with the archival processing of current holdings by reviewing the countless floppy disks and CD-ROMS, photographs, ephemera and research materials and rehousing JYF’s unique history into acid-free folders and boxes, while recording the inventory.

The JamestownYorktown Foundation archives comprise a range of materials, including museum guides, invitations, photographs and even a 1957 dinner menu for the visit of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

This important and time-consuming work will benefit not only JYF staff but anyone interested in learning more about the history of JYF in the future. This evaluation, organization and policy-defining process will lay the groundwork for a future project to accession and catalog all archival materials into a new collections management system software. Through this new digital platform with a public-facing site, JYF’s collection will be made available and easily accessible to the staff and public as an educational resource.

—Nancy Egloff, Historian —Anita Hoffman, Project Archivist

Our Mission, Your Impact

Long-term projects like JYF institutional archival preservation and digitization are made possible through generous contributions to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Inc. Annual Fund. The Annual Fund provides the Foundation with unrestricted resources to support the projects, programs and initiatives at JYF – both front of house and behind the scenes – that enable us to make history meaningful for current and future generations.