The Electronic Records Archival Programme at the National Archives of Canada: Evolution and Critical Factors of Success

At the beginning of the 1970's, a few leading archives around the world began to respond to the changing nature of information signalled by the widespread introduction of computers into government and business after the Second World War. T h e Public (now National) Archives of Canada was one of the first to do so. In 1974, the Machine Readable Archives Division (MRA) was established to address this newest archival medium. The mission of the Division was to acquire the archival electronic records of Canadian federal government institutions, as well as those of national significance from the private sector. From the start, however, the primary focus was on government records (a seven-to-one ratio), as was befitting the National Archives' role as the sole archives of the Government of Canada.