Government archives are widely viewed as having cultural and legal importance. These archives impact the lives of citizens by preserving their rights, archives help form identify and community through genealogical and local history research, and provide evidence of property rights and boundaries for a variety of government officials, private businesses, and individuals. Government archives are widely used. According to the State of State Records, state archives average thousands of on-site visitors a year.

Government archives are often viewed as a service totally supported by taxpayer dollars. Where allowed by law, some may charge for selected items or charge to recoup costs, such as for the reproduction of documents. However, the role of government archives in the local and regional economies has not been explored in the United States.

The Economic Impact Survey (EIS) of Government Archives is the most comprehensive survey of its type in the United States. The Archival Metrics Project team administered the EIS as part of a larger project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Throughout the final week of August and the first week of September 2009, 43 government repositories (state, county, and municipal) administered the survey in their repositories. Participating government archives were instructed to offer the survey to each unique researcher who visited their facility. The survey was anonymous. In total, 1966 surveys were returned demonstrating the dynamics of economic impact during that period. Important findings include:

• Archives were the primary destination of most respondents; 69% stated that they planned their trip specifically to visit the archives.

• On average visitors travelled 214 miles to visit the archives.

• Economic impact is generally measured by examining cultural tourism. This survey was timed to capture local visitors as well as cultural tourism. This is important since most visitors to government archives are local.

• Almost all respondents spent money in the local community in connection with their archives visit.

- 91% of the local visitors spent between $1 and $99 dollars during their visit.
- Archival visitors from further away spent more: 36% spent between $1 and $99 dollars; 35% spent between $100 and $499; 15% spent between $500 and $999, and 7% spent between both $1000 to $1499 and $1500 and above.
- 41% of the visitors from a distance and 20% of those living in the area plan to visit other sites in conjunction with their archives visit.
- 38% of visitors from outside the area and 19% of the local visitors shop or use local services in conjunction with their archives visit
- 69% of those from outside the area and 33% of those from the area eat in nearby restaurants
- Even within the 2 week window in which this survey was done, this amounts to thousands of people.

Extrapolated to an entire year this amounts to significant economic activity resulting from archives visits.

For further details.