Archives are the records of an organisation or person that are kept permanently because they hold enduring value as evidence and information. Unlike a library, which collects published items that exist in many copies, an archive preserves unique records generated in the course of activity - correspondence, minutes, registers, photographs, datasets - and protects the context that makes them meaningful. The discipline that governs this work is grounded in a small set of durable principles that distinguish archival practice from general collecting.

Records move through a lifecycle from creation and active business use, through a semi-active phase, to a final disposition that is either destruction or permanent retention. ISO 15489, the international standard for records management, frames this continuum and the controls that keep records authentic, reliable, complete and usable over time.

The core principles

  • Provenance (respect des fonds): records are kept together according to their creator and never intermingled with those of another creator.
  • Original order: the arrangement imposed by the creator is preserved because it carries evidence of how the records were used.
  • Authenticity & integrity: a record must be what it claims to be and demonstrably unaltered, supported by documented chain of custody.
  • Context: meaning depends on the relationships between records, their creators and the functions that produced them.

Records, evidence & the archival bond

A defining archival concept is the archival bond - the network of relationships each record has with others in the same aggregation. A single invoice means little alone; understood within its file, series and fonds it becomes evidence of a transaction. This is why archivists describe records at multiple levels rather than cataloguing items in isolation.

In practice. When a transfer arrives, resist the urge to tidy or re-file. Document how the material was received, keep creators separate, and photograph any existing order before you touch it - that context is often impossible to reconstruct once lost.

Key takeaways

  • Archives preserve unique, evidential records with their context, not published copies.
  • Provenance and original order are the two foundational principles of arrangement.
  • ISO 15489 frames the records continuum that underpins authenticity and usability.

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Last modified: Saturday, 1 August 2026, 10:37 AM