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The Ryerson Archives serves as the institutional memory of the Ryerson community. The Archives appraises, preserves, and makes accessible a broad range of primary source materials which provide an administrative, academic, fiscal, legal, social, and cultural record of Ryerson University

Services & Facilities

• Research assistance and support
• Reading room
• Computerized finding aids
• Displays
• Records management service
• Access to digital, audio-visual, reprographic and micrographic facilities

Mandate

Founded in 1971 on a recommendation by the Smyth Commission on Ryerson Polytechnic University's governance and organization, the Ryerson Archives mandate is to acquire preserve and make available through a comprehensive archive's collection, records essential to the understanding of the University's purposes and operation or having other historical or permanent or archival value. In 1982, records management was added to the Archive's mandate in order to assist and guide the University in the systematic control of the creation, use maintenance, and disposition of records used in the course of its business and operation.

Within its mandate, the Ryerson Archives acts as a resource facility which documents the history of Ryerson University (1948 to the present) and its antecedent institutions at St. James Square, known as the cradle of education in the province of Ontario.

These institutions include primarily the Toronto Normal School (1852-1941), the R.C.A.F. No. 6 Initial Training Centre and Dominion-Provincial War Emergency Training Program (1941-1945) and the Toronto Training and Re-establishment Institute (1945-1948).

The Archives also maintains a collection of records and information on Egerton Ryerson (1803-1882), the University's namesake and founder of Ontario's educational system, at St. James Square.

Generally, the Ryerson Archives does not acquire or maintain external archival collections unless they meet certain well-defined criteria, the most important of which is relatedness to Ryerson and its historical development.

Please note that unauthorized reproduction of images contained on the Ryerson University Archives Web site, without express written consent (archives@ryerson.ca), is strictly prohibited. If permission is granted, credit shall be given to the Ryerson University Archives in any case where material is reproduced. More information is available on the copyright page.