Archives are collections of historical documents, records, and materials carefully preserved so people can study the past. When a library keeps old newspapers, letters, photographs, and maps in a special room with controlled temperature and humidity, that's an archive. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., protects important documents like the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Schools might keep archives of old yearbooks, newspapers, and records of past students. Museums archive sketches, letters, and notebooks from famous artists and inventors. Family archives might include old photo albums, birth certificates, and letters grandparents wrote during wartime.

Unlike a regular library where you can check out books, archives usually require you to handle materials carefully in a special reading room. That's because archived documents are often one-of-a-kind: there's no other copy anywhere. Archivists are the people who organize, protect, and help researchers find what they need in these collections.

The word can also be a verb: when you archive something, you store it for future reference. Your email program might let you archive old messages you want to keep but don't need to see every day. Companies archive their old financial records, and photographers archive their negatives and digital files.