United NationsArchives and Records Management Section Information Sheet 1ABOUT THE UNITED NATIONS ARCHIVES AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT SECTION (ARMS)IntroductionSpanning almost 106 years, the United Nations (UN) Archives constitutes a vast and rich resource for the study of the history of the United Nations and international peacekeeping. The Archives also includes the records of significant agencies that preceded the United Nations, including those of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. While most of the collection comprises paper files, it also includes photographs, posters, maps and drawings, films, microfilm and sound recordings. The collection’s main strength is material created since the creation of the United Nations in 1946 by the United Nations Secretariat departments, missions, tribunals, and emergency forces. Among the holdings are the records of United Nations Secretaries-General, Chefs de Cabinet, and other senior UN officials. Each year hundreds of people conduct research in the UN Archives for a variety of reasons. They include academics, genealogists, historians, journalists, students, professional historians and lawyers. Whatever the purpose of the research or the nature of the inquiry, the ARMS staff should welcome and encourage interest in the Archives.^ A Brief History The origins of ARMS may be found in the Archives Unit that operated as part of the Secretariat at the United Nations Conference on International Organisation held at San Francisco in April – June 1945. Its responsibilies were then limited to the filing of drafts and record copies of the Conference processed documents. In addition, it acquired also some of the other working papers and administrative files of the Conference. More importantly, the Archives Unit served as the beginning of an unbroken chain of archives offices, which continued through the United Nations Preparatory Commission in the early Secretariat days in London and at Hunter College, New York, to the establishment in late 1946 of a professionally staffed archival unit at Lake Success and finally in 1950 to the Archives Section located in U.N. Headquarters in New York. Since then, the Archives Section has had a number of locations in New York City until it finally moved to its current two locations in Manhattan and Long Island City.What we do The United Nations Archives and Records Management Section (ARMS) has two important responsibilities. Firstly, we are responsible for the custody, preservation of, and accessibility to, numerous historical, legal and evidential archives documenting the activities and development of the United Nations.Secondly, we are involved with all aspects of recordkeeping, ranging from measures to ensure that United Nations officials create records in the course of their duties in the first place, through the management of records in United Nations offices (the traditional role of records management), to preserving and making records of continuing value accessible as United Nations archives (the traditional role of archives institutions).We undertake these roles as:a coordinating office within the United Nations Department of Management a provider of services to the public and to United Nations staff, and the protector and preserver of United Nations archives as an irreplaceable part of the collective memory and cultural heritage of the organisation. Most records created within the United Nations have a finite value and can be destroyed when this value has passed. Some, however, are preserved As United Nations archives because they are of enduring value to the United Nations and/or to the public. ^ A brief description of our holdingsThe United Nations Archives and Records Management Section holds the non-official archives of the United Nations. Official numbered United Nations documents are held by the United Nations Library.The United Nations archives cover 5 broad areas. The archives are arranged as series within the United Nations office or agency that created them. The creating agency could be a United Nations department, mission, tribunal or any other United Nations functional unit.^ Predecessor agenciesThese archives include those of the International Penal and Penitentiary Commission, 1893–1951; United Nations Information Organization, 1941–1946; United Nations War Crimes Commission, 1943-1949; United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, 1943-1949; United Nations Conference on International Organization, San Francisco, 1945; United nations Preparatory Commission, 1945-1946.United Nations SecretariatThe holdings consist of two main types of archives: Registry files (covering all departments): 1946-1947 Central Registry Branch registries 1954-1983 Central Registry Non-registry records (arranged according to the departmental organization of the Secretariat,) 1946 – present, and include the archives of:Office of the Secretary-General, Office of Legal Affairs, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Office of Public Information, Department of Trusteeship and Non-Self Governing Territories, Department of Political and Security Council Affairs, and many others.^ United Nations Missions These holdings include the archives of: United Nations Emergency Force, 1956-1967; United Nations Organization in the Congo, 1960-1964; Other missions and commissions established by the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council or the Secretary-General, and cover the areas of Africa, Americas, Asia and the Pacific Europe and the Middle East.United Nations Related Organs and AgenciesThese holdings include the archives of the United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Development Programme, International Refugee Organization, and the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency. Historic Items and Gift CollectionThe Archives and Records Management Section has overall responsibility for items of historic significance originating from the work of the United Nations or accepted on behalf of the United Nations. Please contact ARMS for further information about this collection. March 2002