The core of the Archives' collections is made up of material originating within Waterford City Council (formerly Waterford Corporation) dating back to the seventeenth century. We been given or loaned a substantial number of items and collections by groups and individuals and there is an active acquisitions policy. It is an objective to 'repatriate' at least some of the material that left the city over the years and is now housed in repositories outside the city.
The principal holdings are:
- Minute Books, Waterford Corporation, 1654-1990s (59 volumes).
- Committee Records, Waterford Corporation, 1778-1940s (19 committees).
- Records of Town Clerk's Office, 1700-1990s.
- Records of Finance Office, 1796-1980s.
- Records of City Engineer's Office, 1700-1990s, including over 2,500 maps, plans drawings for the city and its environs from the eighteenth century to the present. There are also many reports and photographs of completed and proposed works.
- Estate records including searchable database of expired leases of corporation property, 1670s-1970s (1100+ entries).
- Motor registration files, 1923 to present.
- Over 2,500 photographic prints of buildings, streets, events and people, 1870s to present.
- School records, Mount Sion, St. Patrick's and Manor (St John's) Primary Schools. 1909-1990s.
- Over 70 small, private and institutional collections.