The Estonian Literary Museum is historically a colony of three archives: the Archival Library (established in 1909), the Estonian Folklore Archives (1927), and the Estonian Cultural History Archives (1929). The archives were born within the Estonian National Museum with the aim to collect publications, folklore, and cultural-historical documents in Estonian and about Estonia. This is the task the archives have performed since their establishment – irrespective of the changes of the political regimes, the formal status of the institution, and the generations of its employees. As a result of continuous work, the archives of the Literary Museum have a wide and versatile collection of materials on the history of the Estonian diaspora (publications, documents, correspondence, photos, sound recordings, and films). As a research and development institution the Literary Museum is also engaged in doing research and issuing publications on the Estonian diaspora.