What is an Archive?

Recall as a child growing up – did your family have dusty boxes stored away in your attic or in a basement filled with photographs, papers, or perhaps even old toys? If so, this would be one type of archive in your home, or a personal archive. Today, you may have a collection of photos on your computer or smartphone. This could also be an archive –  a digital archive – that provides a record of your personal life and story.

The term “archives” can refer to different things. It may refer to a physical place where records are stored. Or it may refer to a collection of records. Or it may refer to the organizational unit of a library or institution that is responsible for collecting and preserving these archival materials. The materials housed in an archive may include valuable items of continuous, historical significance such as handwritten letters, manuscripts, or photographs. These materials are highly regarded and preserved over time with special care and conditions so that we may rely on them to study and comprehend our history.

Archives as a collection refers to the documents or records (which are usually historical) which contain information that pertains to a place, a corporation, an organization, or a specific person.^[1] These archival materials are useful because they provide us with evidence of their activities. Archival materials are also known as primary sources, because these records provide us with first-hand accounts of events or people.