<P> An archive is an accumulation of historical records or the physical place they are located . Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of that person or organization . Professional archivists and historians generally understand archives to be records that have been naturally and necessarily generated as a product of regular legal, commercial, administrative, or social activities . They have been metaphorically defined as "the secretions of an organism", and are distinguished from documents that have been consciously written or created to communicate a particular message to posterity . </P> <P> In general, archives consist of records that have been selected for permanent or long - term preservation on grounds of their enduring cultural, historical, or evidentiary value . Archival records are normally unpublished and almost always unique, unlike books or magazines for which many identical copies exist . This means that archives are quite distinct from libraries with regard to their functions and organization, although archival collections can often be found within library buildings . </P>

Accumulations of historical records or the physical place they are located