The University Archives and Records Center is one of the six libraries of the University Libraries. Its research rooms and offices are located in the Ekstrom Library building, with records in its care stored in Ekstrom and two other campus facilities. A research repository of national significance, the University Archives is known for its urban history collections, nineteenth and twentieth century records of important businesses, cultural organizations, social service agencies, and churches, and personal papers of political figures, scholars, women, and members of the Jewish and African-American communities. The Archives also administers the University's Oral History Center, preserving over 1,300 recollections of community leaders, members of ethnic communities, workers, business executives, and university students, faculty, and administrators.

As "The Memory of the University," the Archives preserves and makes available for research the official records of the University of Louisville, one of the oldest municipal universities in the United States, in accordance with state and federal law and university policy. The Archives administers the University's records management program, managing two records centers on the edge of the Belknap Campus. Finally, the University's compliance with federal and state records laws, such as those regarding access to university records and the privacy of student records, is overseen by the Director.