What are Archives?
According to the Society of American Archivists, archives are "records created or received by a person, family, or organization and preserved because of their continuing value."
This means that archival records are:
- Primary sources
- Created by individuals, groups, and institutions in the course of their work
- Often unique records that are not duplicated elsewhere
- Usually unpublished and not intended for publication​
- Selected for preservation because of "continuing value"
These materials are kept because they have continuing value to the record creators and to other potential users. Archival records do not interpret past events, but instead contain the documentary evidence of past events that we use to interpret and understand history.