The Libraries' Milwaukee Urban Archives supports UWM's urban mission by acquiring, preserving, making available, and promoting the use of primary research materials pertaining to the history of government, industry, education, society, and culture in the Metropolitan Milwaukee area. These materials include published works, public records, manuscripts, and audiovisual records that are available for use by UWM students and staff, as well as by non-university researchers. In order to highlight its collection and encourage its use by students, scholars, and others, the Division of Archives and Special Collections offers public services such as lectures, exhibits, and publications.

The Area Research Center (ARC), administered by Archives, is part of a cooperative statewide network of regional historical repositories affiliated with the Wisconsin Historical Society, in Madison). As a member of this network, the UW-Milwaukee ARC preserves and administers access to Wisconsin Historical Society public records and manuscripts, such as the records of businesses and other organizations within the five-county metropolitan Milwaukee area (Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha, and Milwaukee counties). The ARC collection supports UWM's urban mission because of its particular focus on documenting the history of the City of Milwaukee, including: its many ethnic communities; political papers from the local, state, and national level; business history and the history of organized labor; medical and nursing history; and the records of social action movements such as the anti-war movement in the Vietnam War era. A unique feature of the ARC network is that original archival collections are available on campus to UW-Milwaukee students and staff via a temporary inter-institutional transfer similar to interlibrary loan. This means that researchers in Milwaukee have direct access to the holdings of the WisconsinHistorical Society, one of the most renowned archival collections in the country, as well as to university and regional archival collections from other Area Research Centers.

Archival material of permanent value is collected on an as-available basis.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archives is responsible for collecting and preserving the non-current records of UWM that have continuing administrative, fiscal, legal, or historical value. One aspect of this responsibility is UWM's Records Management Program that assists campus offices to determine retention periods for records. This enables UWM to comply with the Wisconsin Public Records Law by disposing of obsolete records properly and in a timely manner. The university archives holds records from major campus administrative offices, departments, and student-related activities.

The UWM Manuscript Collection acquires primary materials that document a cross-section of the organizations, businesses, local government agencies, and individuals that are closely associated with Milwaukee and Milwaukee history. Holdings include personal papers of community leaders, business records, photographs, records of urban neighborhood associations, and other primary research materials documenting the history of the five-county Milwaukee Metropolitan area (Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha, and Milwaukee counties). The UWM Manuscript Collection also includes collections with broader scope, such as manuscripts from prominent literary figures, and documents pertaining to the history of aviation. Of particular interest are photographic materials, documents related to the history of the Milwaukee brewing industry, and the records of neighborhood associations and organizations in the City of Milwaukee. Archival records of organizations with a statewide or national focus are considered for acquisition only when they:

• relate directly to one of the Archives areas of subject emphasis;
  
  
• are to be maintained by the UWM Libraries as a professional courtesy;
  
  
• are placed in the UWMLibraries as part of a contract for services with the organization;
  
  
• relate directly to one of UWM's major program areas.
  

The framework below provides a more detailed overview of the primary topical areas documented by Archives that entail significant cooperation with the Libraries' Special Collections and with the Wisconsin Historical Society's Area Research Center program.

• Arts & Architecture

Archives collects in this area because the City of Milwaukee is the focal point for the visual and performing arts in Wisconsin, and also the home of some of the state's major architectural firms. This topical area is especially important to UWM because of its School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Peck School of the Arts.

• Business, Industry & Manufacturing

The Milwaukee metropolitan area comprises Wisconsin's industrial, manufacturing, business, and banking center. The Archives continues to build its primary holdings in this area by acquiring major business-related collections.

• Communications

Many of the state's major print and broadcast media are headquartered in Milwaukee. The Archives cooperates with the Wisconsin Historical Society's Mass Communications History Center in collecting records from both print and broadcast media.

• Education

The Archives has the primary responsibility for documenting the history of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and its predecessor institutions, including the Wisconsin State Normal School, Milwaukee State Teacher's College, and the Wisconsin State College, Milwaukee. Through the ARC network the Archives also administers records of other significant educational institutions.

• Labor

The Archives cooperates with the Wisconsin Historical Society in collecting records of Milwaukee-area labor organizations.

• Medical & Health Care

Archives collects materials pertaining to the history of nursing and hospital care. This includes records from such organizations as the UWM School of Nursing, St. Mary's School of Nursing, and the Wisconsin Nurses Association.

• Politics & Government

The Archives cooperates with the Wisconsin Historical Society in acquiring records pertaining to area politicians and other records of local government. This includes papers from area legislators and public officials at the county, township, and municipal governmental levels in the local five-county region.

• Population Groups

The Archives collects materials documenting the history of ethnic groups in the Milwaukee region, in particular those that build on Archives' strengths, for example the ethnic Polish, African American, Jewish, Irish, and German communities.

• Other Milwaukee Groups

The Archives cooperates with the Wisconsin Historical Society in collecting materials documenting the activities of clubs and organizations. Examples of existing collections include the City Club of Milwaukee, the Eastside Housing Action Committee, the Mid-Town Neighborhood Association, United Community Services of Greater Milwaukee, and the Sherman Park Community Association.

• Social Activism

The Archives collects heavily in this area, not only for the Fromkin Memorial Collection, but for the UWM Manuscript Collection as well. The Division cooperates with the Wisconsin Historical Society in acquiring records from organizations that are included within the Society's national Social Action Collection. Examples of existing archival collections include the papers of Civil Rights activists Lloyd Barbee and Father James Groppi, and records from the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Urban League.

• Transportation

The Archives collects significant primary material dealing with street railway systems and with the history of Wisconsin aviation.

Special Collections.