In light of changing trends in education since the 1960s, archives and manuscript collections are becoming more useful as primary educational resources on both secondary and higher education levels. One reason for this is the recent emphasis on inquiry learning with the subsequent development of collections of evidence, data, and documents for students to investigate. Another reason involves the movement of education beyond the formal classroom into the community. Experiential education allows students to come to repositories of educational materials; the materials no longer must be packaged and sent to the schools. The author discusses four ways in which archives and manuscript collections could be used as dynamic resources. As sources of curriculum materials, collections could be selected and packaged according to media type, such as microfilm resource units, or subject areas, such as ethnic or community history. Training programs and institutes could be developed for teachers to learn how to use collections not only for research but also for teaching. Seminars could be offered to students using specific subject-matter collections as the basis for course outlines. Because the research role of archives goes hand in hand with its development as an educational institution, archive collections may expand into further research endeavors as further educational programs are offered. (AV)