About the Georgia Archives

We maintain records that protect your legal and property rights, as well as those of the state government and the counties. For example:

• Acts of the General Assembly – the archives maintains the original, official copies of the state’s laws, which are referred to frequently to decide points of law and settle issues of printing errors and other alterations.
• County boundaries – the archives maintains all records of county boundaries, boundary disputes, and settlements;
• State boundaries – the archives maintains the official records of the state’s boundaries;

We support legislators and state agencies by providing background information and context for proposed legislation and current issues. For example:

• Water resources – the archives contains records of prior Governors’ attempts to negotiate water rights;
• Jekyll Island – the archives contains early reports and agreements from the period when the state first created the Jekyll Island Authority, all of which are relevant to current issues about island development.

We decrease the liability, and increase the efficiency, of state agencies through proper records management. For example:

• Retention scheduling – the archives oversees the record retention process for all state agencies and local governments. The proper retention and disposition of records reduces wasteful storage of unnecessary records, the preservation of records that are essential to government business, and the reduction of liability through proper and planned destruction of records;
• Education and training – the archives trains state and local government agencies to care for their records efficiently, dispose of them legally, maintain Open Records appropriately, and identify and protect their essential records from disasters;
• State Records Center – the archives, through the State Records Center, provides cost‐effective storage of records that are awaiting their destruction date, thereby reducing state costs.

Our organization

• Public Services
  Helps the public use archival records on‐site and by e‐mail. Provides opportunities for public involvement through outreach activities workshops as well as our internship and Friends programs. Organizes education and exhibit programs.

• Collections Management
  Makes historic records of permanent research value available to the public. Responsible for accessioning and physical processing of records. Describes the Archives’ records and books through indexes and catalogs; maintains the Division’s web site and databases.

• Preservation Services Oversees preservation and reformatting and digitizes records for access. Provides outreach preservation services through consulting, publications and training.

• Records Management
  Helps state agencies and local governments manage current records efficiently through workshops, consultations, technical leaflets, and retention period.
  Stores the inactive records of state agencies until they have reached the end of their retention period at the State Records Center.

• Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC)
  Helps local governments, historical societies, libraries, museums and other repositories through grants, an awards program, and Board (GHRAC) preferred practices for historical records programs.