The Yukon Archives (YA) is the official repository for records of enduring evidential and informational value (archives) on behalf of the Yukon Government (YG). It is mandated with the responsibility for ensuring the identification, acquisition and ongoing preservation of the archival records of YG. As part of its mandate YA also acquires archival records from private sources including non-governmental organizations, interest groups, societies and individuals. As part of its responsibilities, YA is accountable for ensuring that the records it acquires into its custody are secure and preserved for ongoing access and use by YG and for purposes of ongoing public research of Yukon’s documentary heritage. The acquisition of archival material is exercised by YA through business processes including the implementation of authorized records scheduling and disposal authorities. Privately donated records are acquired through a formal process which includes the transaction of property to the custody of YA via legal documentation.
YA staff must be able to access records when needed for a range of business purposes including information requests initiated by YG business units. The descriptive content of YA’s archival holdings is also made available to the public through both manual and digital means for purposes of searching and locating archival holdings for research purposes. As such, YA is moving to implement a new database system (ArchiveEra) by March 2026. It is an upgrade to the existing system which incorporates both a combination of MS Access databases and an older version of a database product MINISIS M2A to administer YA holdings. The implementation of this new web-based system, hosted by Lucidea Inc., streamlines existing business processes by providing robust functionality for backend processing of acquired archival accessions. System design also includes a public facing portal that allows for comprehensive searching and identification of YA’s holdings for research purposes. Login is not required, link will be provided once system is live in April 2026. It provides functionality for YA to concentrate all metadata related to its acquisitions including donor and departmental transfer information into one database. It also embodies hierarchically integrated descriptive elements at various levels of accessions (fonds, series, file, item) for public access using its front-end interface.
