[1] Only two archivists have served as Head since the official establishment of the archives: Dr. Richard Bennett (1978-1997) and Dr. Shelley Sweeney (1998 on).
Historically, Dr. Bennett created a number of unique initiatives to reach out to users, including the First Annual Archives Symposium in 1979 where donors and others spoke about the papers of such writers as Nan Shipley and Frederick Philip Grove, and the Discovery Hour Series (1982-1986), which saw a number of notable people speak on a variety of topics.
The collection relating to the Series includes talks by poets Eli Mandel and John Newlove, and freelance writer Heather Robertson.
The Archives also maintains a website on the history of the University of Manitoba and helps run yearly tours of historic buildings on campus.
[10] A channel on YouTube, UMA-TV, has been established to provide easier access to moving image collections.