NPBA serves as a living reminder of the cultural and intellectual continuity of the effort to make television something more than commercial networks can provide.
Its mission is to work with the primary national entities of American noncommercial broadcasting to identify records and programs of historical value and to serve as a repository for those materials.
The University of Maryland Libraries agreed to serve as the academic host for the effort and the Archives was officially inaugurated June 1, 1990.
[1] NPBA also maintains the personal papers of over 120 individuals who were associated with public radio or television during the course of their careers.
NPBA continues to grow and develop with the regular transfer of participants' records to its storage areas.