Welcome to the U.S. Geological Survey
Field Records Collection

The USGS Field Records Collection is an archive of unpublished field notes, maps, correspondence, manuscripts, analysis reports, and other data created or collected by USGS Geology Discipline scientists during field studies and other project work. Located in the Central Region Library in Denver, Colorado, the collection is available for on-premises examination during normal library hours. See the Denver Library home page for schedules and location information.

Materials in the collection represent almost 130 years of scientific investigations by the USGS, from the earliest days of the agency to recently completed projects. Records contributed by approximately 1,200 USGS scientists are presently archived.

Organization and inventorying of the collection is an ongoing project. Completed (web accessible) inventories of materials, organized by lead scientist, may be accessed at the Search, View, and Request Field Record Materials page. A complete list of scientists represented in the collection is available at the Browse All Collections page.

The Denver Field Records Collection represents project work undertaken in the contiguous 48 states and Hawaii. Field records and project archives for the state of Alaska are kept in the Alaska Technical Data Unit Field Records Archive. Information on other Federal archives and records may be found at the USGS Library's Frequently Asked Questions page (question 3).