Only 10 years after the foundation of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, a university archive was established in 1956 and the first files of the young university were taken over. However, it took until 1981 before a full-time archivist was hired for the first time and the archive became available to the general public. Since 2012 the University Archive is a department of the University Library.
Today, the University Archives contain around 1,200 linear metres of files from the University management, the central administration, the departments and institutes as well as the University's student organisations. The holdings also include around 45 bequests of Mainz professors, including the estate of the historian Leo Just, the musicologist Arnold Schmitz and the botanist Wilhelm Troll. The legacy is supplemented by various university history collections, including a collection of flyers, a poster collection and a collection of photographs with around 10,000 images.
