Guide to Archival Research

• Records created or received by a person, family, or organization and preserved because of their continuing value (Source: Dictionary of Archives Terminology).
• An organization that collects the records of individuals, families, or other organizations; a collecting archives (Source: Dictionary of Archives Terminology).
• Archives are usually considered primary sources that serve as evidence of past actions and events. 

Archival materials act as memory aids that allow us to recall and relive these activities and events, or to re-communicate information about them at some point in the future. 

Archival materials are preserved as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator or because of their enduring value.

Archival materials can include a wide variery of formats:

• Textual records (e.g., correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, etc.)
• Photographs
• Architectural plans
• Blueprints
• Audiovisual records (e.g., tape, film, video, etc.)
• Computer files (e.g., word documents, spreadsheets, software files, etc.)
• Data sets (e.g., databases, GIS data, etc.)
• Scrapbooks

Watch this video to learn more about primary sources:

Archives create "finding aids," standardized descriptions of archival material. Finding aids provide information about:

• The origin of the archival material
• The creator(s) of the archival material
• How the archival material is organized
• Access and/or use restrictions on the archival material

This information should enable researchers to determine whether particular holdings are relevant to their research. Like records in a library catalogue, archival finding aids do not typically include copies of the actual original records themselves. The vast majority of archival material must be consulted on-site.

However, many archives are now digitizing their holdings and making digital copies of records available online. For example, the Archives Catalogue and the MemoryNS.ca website have the ability to "embed" digital copies of archival material directly to the finding aids.