The Furry AVA (Audio Visual Archive) is an Archive of photographs, audio recordings, video, field recordings, field notes, and ephemera of the furry fandom. We are focused on primary media that demonstrates the events, people, culture, locations, and physical happenings for the furry fandom. This archive will be focused on primary materials that give a history to the events in these spaces, that document the events that take place, and that communicate the experiences of those that attend these events.

The furry fandom is a relatively new and emergent subculture with intersections with queer, media, fandom, and neurodivergent subcultures. The goal of the archive is to acquire materials from the furry fandom, which was started in 1985, with a focus on materials related to in person furry conventions and furry events.

The majority of materials what we collect are born-digital, we do allow materials such electronic tape based media as well as disks, print media, analog photography and unique ephemera as well. We specialize in collecting materials that other members of the Furry Archive Consortium either do not have the ability to store correctly or that do not fit any other furry archives mission statement. We acquire these materials on a case by case bases, purely off of their value as audiovisual materials.

We work within the framework of the Furry Archive Consortium, offering to be the hosts for audiovisual objects, and when trusted with materials that do not fit our mission we proudly keep those materials in the furry community by offering those materials to other archives within our consortium on your behalf.

The vast majority of furry media is digital format from its conception. This archive is a primarily digital archive. Currently & realistically, we have physical materials that we collected such as ephemera, primary documents of furry conventions, field notes, recordings and photographs from the over 30 years that there have been furry conventions.

The Archives in the Furry Archive Consortium offer organized locations and frameworks that will greatly aid us in keeping materials in the furry community. It is important to collect them while materials are still relatively recent and consolidated.

The first furry convention was in 1989 (ConFurence 0) in Irvine California.
The majority of key figures of the history of furries are still alive today, with large private collections of the early media and documentation of it still with these individuals. It is imperative that community archives and the Furry Archive Consortium be given the opportunity to collect and organize these materials now while these key figures are still looking within the community to donate their collections.