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Usually, archives. documents or records relating to the activities, business dealings, etc., of a person, family, corporation, association, community, or nation.
archives, a place where public records or other historical documents are kept.
any extensive record or collection of data:
The encyclopedia is an archive of world history. The experience was sealed in the archive of her memory.
Digital Technology.

a long-term storage device, as a disk or magnetic tape, or a computer directory or folder that contains copies of files for backup or future reference.
a collection of digital data stored in this way.
a computer file containing one or more compressed files.
a collection of information permanently stored on the Internet:
The magazine has its entire archive online, from 1923 to the present.

to place or store in an archive:
to vote on archiving the city’s historic documents.
Digital Technology. to compress (computer files) and store them in a single file.
Contemporary Examples

How many words flowed from those keyboards.I went up to Yale recently to inspect his archive of papers.
Remembering William F. Buckley, a Year Later Christopher Buckley February 21, 2009

Gordon: My question, to turn it around: Has anyone here had access to the archive?
The David Foster Wallace Generation Seth Colter Walls April 6, 2011

The archive is filled with correspondences from Ginsberg and other lovers, but one letter stands out.
The Mystery of the Allen Ginsberg-Diana Trilling Feud Gregory Curtis June 11, 2013

TDB: There is reportedly no archive from your time at Dior Homme.
Hedi Slimane Interview: ‘California Song’ at MOCA Los Angeles (PHOTOS) Isabel Wilkinson January 19, 2012

We worked with Halston and were given access to their archive and found several pieces that really helped set the tone for Sydney.
The ‘American Hustle’ Style Guide Erin Cunningham February 13, 2014

Historical Examples

One room alone contained an archive of business documents estimated at thirty thousand.
Archology and the Bible George A. Barton

The Internet archive edition is a 1872 edition whereas this is a 1867 edition.
Chips From A German Workshop – Volume I Friedrich Max Mller

I arrived at the Stadhuis as the others took their first look at the oak in the archive Room.
The Chauffeur and the Chaperon C. N. Williamson

She came rushing out of the archive laden with precious records up to her chin.
The Brain Alexander Blade

This ebook has been prepared from scanned images available from the Internet archive.
My Experiences in Manipur and the Naga Hills James Johnstone

noun (often pl)
a collection of records of or about an institution, family, etc
a place where such records are kept
(computing) data transferred to a tape or disk for long-term storage rather than frequent use
verb (transitive)
to store (documents, data, etc) in an archive or other repository
v.

1819 (implied in archived), from archives. Related: Archiving.

1. A single file containing one or (usually) more separate files plus information to allow them to be extracted (separated) by a suitable program.
Archives are usually created for software distribution or backup. tar is a common format for Unix archives, and arc or PKZIP for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows.
2. To transfer files to slower, cheaper media (usually magnetic tape) to free the hard disk space they occupied. This is now normally done for long-term storage but in the 1960s, when disk was much more expensive, files were often shuffled regularly between disk and tape.
3. archive site.
(1996-12-08)