"The Archives Center supports the mission of the National Museum of American History by preserving and providing access to documentary evidence of America's past. The Archives Center's collections complement the Museum's artifacts and are used for scholarly research, exhibitions, publications, documentary productions, school programs, and other research and educational activities. The Archives Center holds more than 1,000 collections which are stored in the American History building and at off-site storage locations. In addition to paper-based textual records, many Center collections contain photographs, motion picture films, videotapes, and sound recordings. The topics of technology, advertising, and music offer one way to categorize the Archives Center's varied holdings, but the collections are rich in important historical themes and topics that cut across these lines. For example, collections in each category are sources for understanding the roles and activities of women in the American past. Many Archives Center collections document entrepreneurial activity in which invention and marketing are inextricably linked. The creation of nationally recognized brands and corporate identities and commercial depictions of gender, ethnicity, and other cultural categories are well represented in the holdings."