The New York State Archives is a unit of the Office of Cultural Education within the New York State Education Department, with its main facility located in the Cultural Education Center on Madison Avenue in Albany, New York, United States. The New York State Library and the New York State Museum are also located in the Cultural Education Center. Organization The New York State Archives was established in 1971 to preserve and make accessible recorded evidence documenting New York State's history, governments, events, and peoples from the 17th century to the present. Full operations began in 1978 when the organization's storage and research facility opened in the Cultural Education Center. Collections The Archives preserves and provides access to over 270 million documents dating from the period of Dutch and British colonial rule during the 17th and 18th centuries through the modern day. The State Archives preserves records from the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of state government. Topics covered in those records include relations with Native Americans, the Erie Canal and westward expansion, industrial development, labor, the rise of the modern social welfare system, public education, public health, the environmental movement, and New York State citizens' participation in numerous military conflicts. The collection includes nearly 13,000 documents relating to the administration of the colony of New Netherland. In addition, the archives maintains the records of the construction of the Erie Canal and New York State Barge Canal including maps, engineering drawings and glass plate negatives. Finally, the collection includes over 50,000 motion picture film scripts from the 1920s to the 1960s. There is an online, searchable index to the film scripts available through the Archives' web site. The Archives' web site provides online access to over 100,000 digital images of maps, photographs and other materials of interest as well as an on-line catalog and online finding aids with descriptions of all records in the collection. Statewide programs In 1987 the New York State Archives assumed the responsibility for overseeing management and disposition of state government records, including operation of the State Records Center in Albany. Legislation in 1988 created the Documentary Heritage Program that provides technical advisory services and competitive grants to historical societies, museums, libraries, and other nonprofit organizations holding historical records. Technical advisory services and training are now provided, free of charge, through the Archives' Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY) program. A local government