The TKU archive was founded in 1964. The Archive is characteristically an audio-visual research and teaching archive. The TKU Archive is the second largest tradition archive in the country, with valuable problem-oriented collections in several fields of folklore and religion.

The TYKL archive (Archives of the Turku University Ethnology Department) contains material collected by various means: these include mailed questionnaires and interviews, drawings, photographs taken during fieldwork and sent in with responses to questionnaires, and students' thesis work.