]]An archive is a collection of historical records, and the location in which the collection is kept. Archives contain records (primary source documents) which have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime.The archives of an individual may include letters, papers, photographs, computer files, scrapbooks, financial records or diaries created or collected by the individual – regardless of media or format. The archives of an organization (such as a corporation or government) tend to contain other types of records, such as administrative files, business records, memos, official correspondence and meeting minutes.In general, archives consist of records which have been selected for permanent or long-term preservation, due to their enduring research value. Archival records are normally unpublished and almost always unique, unlike books or magazines, in which many identical copies exist. This means that archives (the places) are quite distinct from librari

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive
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