Archives

Written primary sources are created as a by-product of the activity of organizations or individuals. The term, archives, describes that part of an organization's documentary output that is no longer in current use, but has been determined to have historical worth.

Archival records are voluminous. Since single documents tend to only have meaning in the context of the larger group of records, archivists try to keep records from one source together and maintain the integrity of the original filing system.