Do you preserve or archive your documents?

Thought I might start my first blog attempt on a subject that might help clarify what we do with newspaper and other historial documents. Do we preserve or do we archive?

The verb “preserve” means to keep up or maintain. So when we “preserve” we maintain a record of that document, historical item or event. In our industry, we make newspapers and the information they contain, available for future generations in a format that is reliable and stable. In the microfilm industry our format has life expectancy of up to 500 years when filmed properly and stored in a proper environment.

Archiving on the other hand can sometimes mean something different. The verb “archive” means to place or store. Something that is archived can be placed anywhere for instance. Newspapers laying flat on a shelf in a library’s basement perhaps. They have been deposited or “archived,” but they are not preserved. See the distinction?

The importance of that distinction, to historians or those seeking to look back at family history for example, means that even though the records have been archived, in order for them to be retrieved or made available they would have been preserved.

That’s my diatribe for the moment. Have a great week everyone.