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What are Archives?
- Archives and archival collections unique constellations of records made in the course of normal activities which are preserved because of some perceived historicalvalue. Archives are comprised of primary sources, but not all primary sources are archival.
- Archival research is the practice of performing primary research to extract information from archival records.
- Different archives (college/university, government, historical society, corporate archives, government archives, religious archives etc.) collect different materials. For broader description of the types of materials various archives collect, see the Society of American Archivists’ Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research, Types of Archives. *Note* The Society of American Archivists’ list is not inclusive of community archives which are collections, typically not found in institutional repositories, that are created and maintained by the community that produces said collections. For example: Interference Archive, the South Asian American Digital Archive, and the Lesbian Herstory Archive.
- Archival materials are organized into collections, typically based on who created them. This is related to the principle of provenance.
- For more information on the difference between archives and libraries, see the Society of American Archivists’ Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research, What Are Archives and How Do They Differ from Libraries?
- Also recommended: Dorothy Berry's "The House Archives Built" provides a review of the fundamental principles of western archives (provenance, original order, collective control) as well as a critique of them.
