Archives

A place or collection containing records, documents, or other materials of historical interest. Often used in the plura.A place where historical records and other important documents are preserved; also, the materials themselves. The first National Archives were established in France in 1789. Such institutions, known elsewhere as Public Record Offices, are usually the centralized repository of a nation's official documents. In recent years, the term has also come to be used for the backup storage of computer data files.