GM Heritage Archive
GM's global repository of historical photography, motion picture film, video, digital media, and vehicle literature
The archives and special collections held by General Motors are the gold source for historical information and content regarding the heritage of our company. They exist to document the history of GM as a corporation and cultural entity and to enhance our ability to tell interesting, accurate and complete stories that serve our company’s purpose and vision.
Materials that relate to any of General Motors’ current and historic North American brands as well as our global partners fall within the scope of the collection. We house more than 250,000 unique historical documents consisting primarily of product catalogs, sales brochures, press materials, promotional records, engineering information and service information that relates to General Motors’ products and services.
In addition to documents and literature, we also maintain a global archive of historical photography, motion picture film, video and digital media. It was established by the company in 1993 with foundations in the work of GM Photographic which dates to 1920. GM Photographic created millions of photographic images and countless hours of motion picture footage documenting the development, manufacturing and promotion of General Motors products as well as its events, facilities and leadership.
Today, the collections hold more than 8 million photographic images, 220,000 video masters, 25,000 motion picture films and 1.5 million digital media files. A significant portion of these collections are accessible through the GMHA digital asset management system.
The GM Heritage Archive has trained researchers available to assist with your research, whether the endeavor is of an enthusiast, academic or commercial nature. Requests should be sent via email to gmhc@gm.com. The email should outline your information or visual media need and the intended use. For commercial endeavors, fees may apply.
The GM Heritage Archive may permit researchers to visit and conduct their own research onsite. Access to the collection is by appointment only. Requests can be sent to gmhc@gm.com. A member of our team will contact you to schedule an appointment should we be able to accommodate your request.
In addition to visual media, this archive is also home to our company’s collection of vehicle build documentation, dealer invoices and/or build sheets, which contains information about individual vehicles produced by GM and exists on various digital and microfilm formats. The collection covers almost all cars & trucks starting with the 1977 model year. To request vehicle documentation please email vehicleinvoice@gmmediaarchive.com, call 1-734-261-5086, or complete the Archive Request Form.
The GM Heritage Archives contains over 900 Vehicle Information Kits that you can search and download.