Editing Archive

An '''archive''' is an organised collection of records selected for long-term retention, together with the institution or system that cares for them. Archives differ from libraries mainly by emphasising unique or rare records (often unpublished) and by documenting provenance and original order.

==Physical and digital==
Traditional archives hold paper, film, and other physical media. [[Born-digital]] archives and [[Web archiving]] programmes extend the same custodial ideas to electronic mail, databases, websites, and social-media captures. Digital archives still need appraisal (what to keep), description (how to find it), and access rules.

==Functions==
Core archival functions include acquisition/appraisal, arrangement and description, preservation, and reference service. In digital settings these map onto ingest pipelines, metadata schemas, [[Checksum|fixity]] monitoring, and public discovery interfaces such as the [[Wayback Machine]].

==Cultural role==
Archives underpin [[Cultural memory]]: courts, journalists, historians, and everyday users rely on retained evidence when live websites change or disappear ([[Link rot]], [[Content drift]]).

==See also==
* [[Digital preservation]]
* [[Institutional repository]]
* [[Internet Archive]]
* [[Primary source]]

==Sources==
* International Council on Archives and standard archival manuals (general reference).
* Rewritten overview for Foreverpedia; attribute upstream encyclopedias where consulted.

[[Category:Archives]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Cultural memory]]