CLP-Main Archives preserves and maintains institutional and historical collections of cultural value to our institution, Pittsburgh, and Western Pennsylvania to support CLP's strategic plan.

Collecting Principles

• Collect and preserve archival materials created by CLP and its community to document:
  • The history, growth, and the development of CLP.
  • Its cultural and social role in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
  • The neighborhoods and communities that CLP serves.
• Arrange and describe materials according to archival standards and principles and provide access to CLP trustees and employees and the public, unless access is temporarily restricted by legal policy, board policy, or written agreement with donors.
• Provide adequate and appropriate conditions for the storage, protection, and preservation of archival material.
• Provide reference services to individuals, groups, or organizations inside and outside CLP interested in activities and holdings.
• Facilitate digitization projects, exhibitions, outreach, and programming to increase public awareness of and engagement with CLP institutional historical archives and community archives.

Collection Scope

Our collection scope is focused on our institutional history, the history of Pittsburgh and the communities CLP has served and continues to serve, and the history of Western Pennsylvania. The areas of focus defined in this plan reflect our active collecting priorities, as well as materials we do not seek to acquire.

Read the full Collection Development Plan.