ENG 1110 master guide

What Are Archives?

The word archives can be used in three different ways:

• The word archives (usually written with a lower case a and sometimes referred to in the singular, as archive) refers to the permanently valuable records—such as letters, reports, accounts, minute books, draft and final manuscripts, and photographs—of people, businesses, and government. These records are kept because they have continuing value to the creating agency and to other potential users. They are the documentary evidence of past events. They are the facts we use to interpret and understand history.
• An Archives (often written with a capital A and usually, but not always, in the plural) is an organization dedicated to preserving the documentary heritage of a particular group: a city, a province or state, a business, a university, or a community. For example, the National Archives and Records Administration in the United States, Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, The Coca-Cola Company Archives, and The Archives of the Episcopal Church are all responsible for the preservation and management of archives.
• The word archives is also used to refer to the building or part of a building in which archival materials are kept, i.e., the archival repository itself.

Excerpted from The Story Behind the Book: Preserving Authors’ and Publishers’ Archives by Laura Milla

Additionally, there are some related points to consider.

Some archival collections are stored only in archives or repositories. The only way to interact with those materials is by appointment. You would access a finding aid to note which objects/artifacts/etc you need for your research. After that, the materials would be brought to you in a reading room -- a dedicated space solely for this purpose.

Other archival collections have been digitized. This means that, if you use the example from the above case, some of those same materials -- otherwise accessed only by appointment, at a specific place -- have been made available electronically. This could mean that photos have been scanned, for example.

Other archival collections may be digital archives. This tends to refer to collections of materials that were "born digital." Those would be things that don't exist outside the Internet, like videos, social media posts, websites, etc.

When dealing with digital archives, it may be useful to think of them as databases that allow you to search primary sources.