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University archives, often overlooked in favor of public libraries and national repositories, hold irreplaceable records of institutional history, including correspondence, meeting minutes, and student publications dating back centuries in some cases. These collections frequently document social changes that broader historical records miss, such as early debates over admitting women or minority students, or the founding of student activist groups. Archivists face mounting challenges in preserving this material: aging paper deteriorates, and increasingly, digital records stored in obsolete file formats risk becoming permanently unreadable. Many universities have begun digitization projects, but funding is typically limited compared to that available for scientific research, meaning archival staff often work with outdated equipment and small teams. Some institutions have turned to crowdsourced transcription projects, inviting alumni volunteers to help catalog and describe historical documents.