UCLA

This thesis seeks to shift the discussion of mental health records in archives and records management literature by foregrounding the autonomy and experiences of records subjects, drawing from the scholarship surrounding archival activism, human rights and disability studies. Using qualitative content analysis of in-depth interviews with five people who have accessed their own records in California, this exploratory study shows evidence that mental health records serve significant practical and affective functions for the people whose experiences they document and that there are multiple barriers to accessing these records. Though contemporary mental health records are typically not stewarded in archival repositories, their associated challenges present a rich opportunity and argument for the value of nonaligned archival advocacy, and for professional archives and records communities to engage with immediate records needs in communities at large.