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The Mint Archives

The Mint Museum Archives collection consists of materials generated by organizations, departments, and individuals important to the permanent history of the museum, reflecting the Mint’s collections, exhibitions, programming and community impact.

In 2012, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) awarded The Mint Museum a grant to establish an archives to collect, maintain and make accessible the official institutional records of The Mint Museum.

Visit the Archives

Mint Museum Randolph

J.A. Jones Reference Library
2730 Randolph Rd, Charlotte, NC 28207

Tuesday – Friday, 11AM–4PM
By appointment | 704.337.2092

Our Mission

The museum archives collection consists of materials generated by organizations, departments and individuals important to the permanent history of The Mint Museum reflecting the museum’s collections, exhibitions, programming and community impact.

The mission of the Mint Museum Archives is to preserve and make accessible the museum’s permanent institutional records and related collections, serving to augment and enhance the museum’s overall collections and holdings.

Detail of plate from Le costume historique, by A. Racinet

About the Collections

This primary source material from over 80 years of institutional history includes correspondence, reports, research materials, photographs, financial records, scrapbooks, audio-visual recordings, press clippings, manuscripts and ephemera. The core of the collection includes institutional records of The Mint Museum, but also includes personal papers created by staff, donors, artists, or historians who have had a relationship with the Museum.

Finding Aids to the Collections

The Mint Museum Archives offers finding aids to help researchers in the selection of archival holdings. Finding aids provide descriptions of collections or records, followed by folder-level inventories of the materials that comprise them. These tools also offer information on both the content of the holdings and the context in which they were created. They include summary information about the creating organization or individual as well as dates, format, arrangement, regulations on use, and subjects of the materials.

Preparing for Your Visit

If you are planning a research visit to the Mint Museum Archives, we encourage you to call or email to make an appointment. Not only will this help ensure that a staff member will be available to assist you, it will also enable us to pull the records you need before you arrive, saving you time.
Additionally, it will allow us to talk with you about your research topic and suggest materials that might be useful, which may help you plan your research time.

We recommend you review and complete the Researcher Registration Form prior to your visit. Please contact the Archivist with any questions, and we look forward to serving you.

Help with the Mint Museum Archives

If you are interested in donating, interning, or volunteering your time to help with the Mint Museum Archives, please see the information below.

The Archivist works closely with potential donors to identify those materials of research interest which fits within the Archives Collection Management Policy and should be preserved at the Mint Museum Archives. Because the research value of papers and records may be diminished if items are removed or rearranged, donors are encouraged to contact the Mint Museum Archives before selecting materials for donation.

For questions regarding what kind of materials might be of interest, or to discuss donating materials, please contact the Archivist.  For more general information on donating to the Mint Museum, please visit the Give page.