SUMMARY FOR ARTICLE

The study suggests that innovative usage of archival material can facilitate community engagement in the knowledge-based economy and support a broad range of community economic development initiatives. the thesis concludes by suggesting that a community archives is an institution that forward-looking community planners can use to mobilize past local knowledge to lead their communities into the future. one way of serving multiple imagined communities within a geographical community is to develop linkages between communities and identify ways of working together toward common goals. given brandon city councils reluctance to fund historical initiatives adequately the incorporation of the gmac may ultimately improve brandons chances of developing local archives. by neglecting its own heritage assets the city of brandon has not taken advantage of what the cdds refers to as heritage assets which provide an important link to the past help to contextualize the present and offer insight into what the future may bring a community archives by collecting and making local records accessible could provide the documentary resources with which to contextualize brandons existing heritage resources.