Started in 1957, CIRA is a place dedicated to memory, which lives thanks to the generosity of authors and publishers, and thanks to the work of dozens and dozens of people who devote their time and money to this work of preservation. CIRA collects the words and images of the anarchist movement, organizes them and catalogs them, giving everyone the opportunity to read them and see them. The catalog is online, and the CIRA publishes a bulletin every year. It also organizes, both in Lausanne and elsewhere (for example, Venice 1984), conferences on anarchism, and prepares bibliographies and other research tools to make access to anarchist history easier.