1. Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator, especially those materials maintained using the principles of provenance, original order, and collective control; permanent records.
2. The division within an organization responsible for maintaining the organization's records of enduring value.
3. An organization that collects the records of individuals, families, or other organizations; a collecting archives.
4. The professional discipline of administering such collections and organizations.
5. The building (or portion thereof) housing archival collections.
6. A published collection of scholarly papers, especially as a periodical.
Glossary (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
This glossary of commonly used archival terms is based in part on and draws several definitions from "A Basic Glossary for Archivists, Manuscript Curators, and Records Managers," compiled by Frank B. Evans, Donald F. Harrison, and Edwin A. Thompson (The American Archivist 37 [July 1974]: 415-433). The glossary includes most important archival terms with specialized meanings. Terms that are adequately described in dictionaries; technical manuscript, records management, and preservation terms; and terms relating to automated data processing are not included.
Libraries in towns (public libraries) or universities (academic libraries) can generally be defined as “collections of books and/or other print or nonprint materials organized and maintained for use.”* Patrons of those libraries can access materials at the library, via the Internet, or by checking them out for home use. Libraries exist to make their collections available to the people they serve.
Archives also exist to make their collections available to people, but differ from libraries in both the types of materials they hold, and the way materials are accessed.
The following glossary, developed by the then National Archives and Records Service in 1984 for A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings on Archival Theory and Practice, is provided on this website as an aid to persons unfamiliar with common archival terms. These definitions are not legally binding and do not represent NARA policy. The updated and more comprehensive A Glossary for Archivists, Manuscript Curators, and Records Managers, compiled by Lewis J. Bellardo and Lynn Lady Bellardo, was published in 1992 and may be purchased from the Society of American Archivists.