Anaconda Geological Documents Collection

the largest body of economic geological data in the world

The Anaconda Geological Documents Collection is the result of the Anaconda Company’s 90 year program of exploration and development work throughout the United States and in 110 foreign countries. Consisting of more than 54 tons of material and 1.8 million documents, the Anaconda Collection contains a wealth of material useful in exploration, development and environmental studies, including:

  • 18,000 local and regional mining and exploration studies
  • 5,500 reports on specific mining prospects
  • 10,000 documents with geological, geochemical, geophysical, drilling, assay, & other data
  • 56,450 geologic, geochemical, geophysical, claim and sample-location maps
  • Thousands of related documents, correspondence files, and aerial photographs that support and add context to the technical papers

The Anaconda Collection is searchable via a free online database. A paid membership is required for reproduction and physical access to Anaconda records, with categories accommodating professional use, non-commercial use, and government agency access.

See Membership Tiers    Apply for Membership    Pay your invoice

Searching the Collection

Search the U.S. Database

SEARCH THE WORLDWIDE DATABASE

access

Physical access and reproductions of the Anaconda Geological Documents Collection are only available to paid Anaconda membership holders. On-site visits are available on weekdays and require two weeks advance notice to the AHC. All information about current and past members is held in confidence within the limits of state law.

The Anaconda collection is just one of several hundred collections related to economic geology part of the American Heritage Center holdings. It is the only collection that requires a membership for access. Learn more about our geology holdings on ArchivEra.

Search tips

  • The Anaconda Geological Documents Collection is searchable by country, state, county, project name, commodity, and author.
  • Documents and maps in the Anaconda Geological Documents Collection date from the 1890s to 1986.
  • Documents in the database are indexed under the names of countries during the time the documents were created. Try historical country names if you are not retrieving any relevant results.
  • Search parameters “Mine,” “Prospect,” and “Project” retrieve the same results.
  • Certain countries have data for states or counties; others have only country-level data.
  • The original database, developed in the mid-1980s, included many fields which were never fully developed. As a result, there are blank fields in the database—you may wish to try a range of search combinations if you are not finding what you hoped.