Colorado State Archives
Records Management Services

The Colorado State Archives, a section of the Division of Information Technologies (DOIT), is authorized by statute to prepare retention and disposition schedules for state agencies, cities and counties, school districts and special districts in Colorado.  These schedules authorize legal destruction of records that are no longer of value to the agency, and they advise agency officials as to which records must be retained permanently. 

• State Agency Records Management Manual

The State Archivist has prepared general retention and disposition schedules that give state agencies the legal authorization to retain and dispose of common kinds of records created by state government.  The schedules list the permanently valuable records that should be retained and properly protected.  They also provide the timetables that will allow agency officials to legally dispose of records of non-permanent value.  The Records Management Manual is available online to state agency and higher education officials.  For records that are not included in the manual, state agencies must develop retention schedules with the archives to authorize legal retention and destruction of those records.  We encourage state agencies to contact the State Archives for any specific questions about records retention.

• 2003 Colorado Municipal Records Retention Schedule

The Colorado State Archives has also developed the Model Municipal Retention Schedule.  Municipalities can elect to adopt the retention schedule.  Once they have adopted the schedule and received State Archives approval, they can legally destroy records of non-permanent value. 

County government records, school district records and special district records are also managed by the State Archives.  These entities must develop retention schedules specific to their agency with the Colorado State Archives.  Many records management questions can be answered on our Frequently Asked Questions page.