Organized by a group of scholars, architects, and Preservationists, COPAR’s mission is to address the problems of locating architectural records, preserving the records, and making them accessible. Formerly the Committee for the Preservation of Architectural Records, COPAR (now the Cooperative Preservation of Architectural Records) functions as a national clearinghouse for a diverse constituency including architectural record creators – architects, builders,designers; architectural record keepers – archivists, curators, librarians; and architectural record users – preservationists, historians, facilities managers.

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, Cal COPAR, was formed in 1985. With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the support of the Architectural Foundation of Northern California and the AIA / SF, Cal COPAR surveyed architectural firms holding pre-1970 records, educational institutions, libraries, archival repositories, museums, religious organizations, preservation organizations, businesses, and government agencies. It also included a sampling of landscape architects, engineering firms, construction companies, and commercial building material manufacturers. Individuals, such as retired architects who might have architectural records in their possession were also contacted. Selected repositories and state agencies in Sacramento and on the San Francisco Peninsula were also included in the survey so that sources holding records about the history of the built environment of the Bay Area would be fully documented.