Archives Resources

Collections housed at the University Archives and Area Research Center (ARC) are divided according to their designation as part of the University Archives, Area Research Center Collections, Special Collections, or Photograph Collections. 

University Archives Collections

The University Archives is the official repository for the permanent historical records of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The University Collections pertain to the establishment, development, and history of the University. The University Collections also include a small number of museum-type artifacts.

Area Research Center Collections

The Area Research Center Collections contain local government records and local area manuscript materials owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society. 

The ARC Collections cover four northwestern Wisconsin counties—Burnett, Pierce, Polk, and Saint Croix. Materials generated by local government units include such things as naturalization (citizenship) records, tax and/or assessment rolls, court records, school records, city and county board minutes, and vital records. Private manuscript collections include such things as the records of local businesses, community organizations, and churches, and personal diaries, letters, and scrapbooks.

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls ARC supplements the archival collections with material such as local and county histories, printed family histories and genealogies, church and cemetery records, maps and atlases, newspapers from the four counties, oral histories, federal and state census records, local serials, and more.

Special Collections

The UWRF Archives' Special Collections are comprised of rare or unusual publications; older agricultural, Civil War, and Wisconsin and Saint Croix Valley history books; area cookbooks; books authored by local area residents; and books authored by UWRF faculty, staff, or students.

Photograph Collections

Both the University Archives and the Special Collections contain photographs. The Photograph Collections are composed of thousands of photographs, digital photos, daguerreotypes, tintypes, slides, and other images from the University and from the four-county region. 

Also look for photographs of our four-county area in the Wisconsin Historical Society's Visual Materials Collection, many of which are available online.

Museum Collections

The University Archives and Area Research Center has a small collection of museum artifacts.  They are mostly university-related, but there also are some items from the four-county area.  Examples include university clothing and caps/hats, some trophies, a branding iron, several quilts and blankets, social and political buttons, pennants, old university time capsules, Kansas City Chiefs items from when they practiced here, and two Ku Klux Klan robes from the 1920s when not all Pierce County residents were welcoming to foreign-born immigrants.

Featured Collections

You will find some of the collections featured—including some digital copies—on our Online Exhibits and Featured Collections page.