COVID-19 presents an opportunity to preserve a rich and diverse historical record—one intended to honour all experiences and voices and in recognition of ongoing systemic inequalities shaping the pandemic. But policy changes are necessary in three key areas: how memory institutions are funded and supported, the gaps in our capacity to preserve the digital records that reflect how we communicate with one another today, and how to preserve and make accessible valuable scholarly research into the societal impact of COVID-19. Our goal is to begin a conversation about priorities for archival preservation, the need for greater equity and justice in our preservation practices, and ways to safeguard the existence of historical records that will allow us in future to bear witness, with fairness and truth and in a spirit of reconciliation, to our society’s response to COVID-19.

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Archivists need to increase public understanding, support, and engagement in archives to enable archives to fulfil their missions. As one way to increase support, archives have increasingly carved out time and resources for various types of outreach. One important audience that has long been acknowledged is children. In the past, archivists have visited classrooms, brought children to archives, and prepared kits of archival facsimiles or surrogates on websites for children to use with the guidance of teachers. But another way to reach children includes narratives in books, films, and television directed at children. This article explores a number of titles to see whether archives and archivists are accurately portrayed in the narratives. The numbers are few, and the portrayals are generally weak. Two exceptions were books created by an archivist and commissioned by an archives. These two approaches led to significant works that enhance children’s understanding of archives and archivists and lead the way as examples for future archival endeavours to emulate.

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