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The article discusses the work of the Route 66 Archives and Research Collaborative (Route 66 ARC) from the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), which seeks to collect and preserve information on the historic decommissioned U.S. federal highway Route 66. After explaining the road's construction on impact on the development of Western U.S. tourism and small businesses and town, the author details the road's preservation by the NPS both through physical conservation and the collection of oral histories. Route 66 ARC's efforts at collecting primary sources, such as roadside advertisements and postcards, and aiding in the creation of web resources related to the highway are then detailed.

The article discusses the archives on Western history at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California. The center's Institute for the Study of the American West houses the Braun Research Library and the Autry Library, which contain collections focusing on American Indians and Western history as depicted in literature and popular culture.