Before you even go to an archive, it is helpful to understand what it is. People use the word "archive" in countless different ways, but for our purposes, we will focus on two: archive as thing and archive as place.
Archives are often thought of as a place, but collections of records are called archives. The only requirement is that the records were produced or received in the process of an activity, and kept after that activity was done because of a continued value. This is an abstract idea. An example of an archive in your life could be a folder of materials from a class you took three semesters ago. While you’re not in that class any more, you kept your assignments and class notes because you still reference those materials for other classes. Those notes and assignments are all materials that you created in the process of an activity (i.e. completing the class) and you are keeping them because of the continued value they have for you.
Archives can also be places. They're generally organizations that collect and store the archives (the thing) of individuals, businesses, or other organizations. The kinds of records an archive collects tends to vary because there’s lots of different types of archives with different collecting missions. Regardless of what they collect, these archives are responsible for documenting what kind of records they have, helping users get the records they need for their research, and protecting the records for future generations.
Throughout this guide, we will be speaking about archive as place, which hold archives (the thing).
Unlike libraries, you are not going to find your textbooks or recently published novels in the archive. Archives specialize instead in rare and unique materials that contain information that was not duplicated or widely distributed. This includes things like company meeting minutes, drafts of a book, personal letters, diaries, and other unpublished materials. Archives may also hold some published items as well, like pamphlets, posters, and books, but they are generally old or rare. Thus, archives are often the only place to go to find that information because it was only documented in one place.
For example, businesses often use archives to preserve their records, including records relating to the design process, decision making process, and marketing. So, if you end up in a position where you are designing a piece of a car interior, you could visit your corporation’s archive to see how past components were designed or what ideas that were scrapped to get new ideas. Since the design documents are unique and were not spread widely, you have to go to the archive (or talk to the archivist) to actually use those records.
Archives are working on it! Many archives are working hard to get more of their materials online so people can more easily find them. However, digitization (the process of getting paper records online) is a very time, energy, and money-intensive process and many archives are responsible for millions of pages of material. Additionally, there are concerns relating to copyright, privacy, and/or cultural sensitivity with some materials that make it impossible for everything to be digitized, even with endless amounts of money and time. So, learning how to use a real-life archive is a valuable skill!
