Archeion turns 25!

Participating in "25 Years of Archeion" celebrations

Kicking off during the 2025 Archives Awareness Week, AAO institutions are invited to join "25 years of Archeion" celebrations throughout the 2025-2026 membership year by participating in the following activities as capacity allows:

1. Add a link to Archeion (https://www.archeion.ca) in your institution's reference or search guides to promote Archeion to your researchers or user communities. You can send your reference or search guide URL to the Archeion Coordinator, too, to compile a list of archives search resources.
2. Set up an institutional profile (external link) in Archeion if you don’t have one by contacting the Archeion Coordinator. Collective participation in the Archeion institutional directory can improve researcher access to archives in Ontario and help with collective advocacy.
3. Book the Archeion Coordinator to present a "Celebrating 25 years of Archeion: finding archives and archival records" session to your user community. Book through the Archeion Coordinator email or use the public Archeion Coordinator booking calendar (external link).
4. Get Archeion Coordinator support or advice about adding your institutional descriptions or authority records into Archeion for additional institutional discovery. You can also browse the AAO Youtube Archeion Playlist (external link) or "Getting Started With Archeion" slide deck.
5. Consider making a donation to Archeion. In return, you'll receive a tax receipt and also have the confidence of knowing that you have supported a very important service and resource within the Ontario heritage community.
6. Submit your feedback about the Archeion database or Archeion service offerings via this Google form (this form is also linked on the Archeion About page (external link) under the "Feedback" heading for anyone to send feedback about Archeion any time).

25 years of Archeion - has it really been that long?

Yes! The Archeion service debuted to the AAO community in June of 2000 at the Annual AAO Conference, held in Peterborough that year. Included here is a screenshot of the Summer 2000 Off The Record issue describing the Archeion conference sessions. 

You can also find more information about Archeion's history in the article, "Archeion's Beginnings" in Fall 2022 Off The Record issue (PDF), written by former Archeion Coordinator, Jazmine Aldrich. Jazmine and AAO Web Administrator, Tiffany Ribeiro, also produced a timeline version of Archeion's history on the AAO website.

Jazmine's article and the Archeion Timeline include important information shared from many past AAO volunteers and Archeion Coordinator staff. Reading through the history of Archeion reveals just how many AAO community members have contributed essential labour in building and sustaining the Archeion service for the last quarter century. 

The AAO extends its thanks to all those who have participated in building the Archeion service: from the tireless data entry and data maintenance care practiced by contributing institutions who upload descriptions or maintain their institutional profiles; to Archeion staff and hosting providers both past and present for keeping things running as smoothly as possible; and to the funders and donors who provide financial support to help the AAO sustain the Archeion service. To all of you, sincerely and deeply, thank you for building Archeion into what it is today!

Archeion’s community beyond the AAO

Celebrating 25 years of Archeion also means celebrating 25 years of researchers and the public connecting with archives institutions and archival records through Archeion!

While discovery technology and online search behaviour has changed since Archeion's launch in 2000, Archeion still remains an important discovery point for people seeking information about or from archives. As a service, Archeion continues to build knowledge and engagement between researcher communities and archives institutions. 

A brief search in Google Scholar for "archeion.ca" reveals some recent research containing Archeion citations that link to authority records or fonds cared for by contributing Archeion institutions. A selection of these are listed below [1]. However, this list of research output does not capture the often non-academic reasons people come to Archeion to search, browse, and find what they need. Inquiry emails to the Archeion Coordinator, or search terms found in Archeion Google Analytics data, also help to uncover the many ways that Archeion is used for general knowledge or to seek support or advice from archives and archivists. 

Throughout the 2025-2026 membership year, as part of celebrating 25 years of Archeion, the Archeion Coordinator will conduct outreach to the archives user/researcher community - look out for more updates on this as the year progresses! 

Download and print the “25 Years of Archeion” AAW2025 poster (PDF) with QR codes providing access to Archeion for researchers.

Guiding the next 25 years of Archeion

Since 2000, stepping stones of initiatives have been put into place by Archeion Coordinators, AAO volunteers, and contributing institutions to build community and shared practices around the AAO’s Archeion discovery service. However, what has sustained Archeion since 2000 may not sustain it for the next 25 years. 

While it’s necessary to pause and celebrate Archeion at 25 there are future considerations for how to continue the service for the next 25 years. For example, what annual programming and initiatives will be needed in the future to meet institutional needs? How will user/researcher needs change over time? How will archives technology and standards shift? By its nature of being a digital discovery service, Archeion requires ongoing AAO community feedback, volunteer support, financial support, and creative solutions to respond to these questions and continuously adapt to change in the AAO community and beyond. 

If you are interested in guiding the next 25 years of Archeion, consider volunteering with the AAO or contacting the Archeion Coordinator for more information.

Cheers to 25 years of Archeion and to 25 more!