The IRCICA Archive was founded and developed within the establishment phase of the Centre. The foundations of the Photography Archive were laid in 1982 with a protocol signed with Istanbul University regarding the publication of the Yıldız Photography Collection, the originals of which are in the Istanbul University Rare Books Library. The production and classification of the negative copies of this collection continued until 1988.

The IRCICA Archive contains many different materials such as photographs, glass and negative films, slides, documents, microfilm, microfiche, records, sound and video recordings. The archive has over 100 photographic collections and approximately 77.000 visual materials. Important photographic collections include those of Medina Defender Fahreddin Pasha; Neslişah Osmanoğlu from the Ottoman dynasty; Ekrem Rüştü Akömer, aide-de-camp of Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi and his private secretary Salih Keramet Nigâr; collector and amateur photographer Nuri Arlasez; educator Nezahat Nureddin Ege; Sabiha Darga, daughter-in-law of Chamberlain Mehmed Emin Bey.

Collections of special importance in terms of scope and historical value include those of Haidar Bammate, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Caucasus, and his son Prof. Necmeddin Bammate, ex-Assistant Director-General of UNESCO and expert of Islamic culture; Prof. Nadir Devlet, expert in the history and international relations of the Turkic world; Mihin Lugal, expert librarian who worked a long time at the Turkish Historical Society and the IRCICA Library, and his father Prof. Necati Lugal, a scholar of Arabic and Persian languages and literatures; and, the Colonel, military cartographer Edip Özkale, who established and classified the IRCICA photograph archive.