Question

What do you mean by archives?

Answer 1

Hint: Archives are a record of any administrative data, historical information or a collection of documents aimed at providing knowledge about the past through the accounts maintained over an extended period of time.

Complete answer: Archives are seen as the primary source of information about an individual or an organisation as a whole. Archives are not only data based on nature but are maintained as recorded information over a period of time. There are newspaper archives, research archives, statistical archives, government and administrative archives etc.
In a more discipline-specific matter, archival research is a core source of historical inquiry. It includes manuscripts, data on revenue and tax collection, trade and economy and official appointments from any particular period one is wanting to research about.
For this purpose, the National and Archaeological Archives are maintained by the governments to provide an authentic source of research for scholars. These databases are not only keepers of the documents found but also of the research done on those documents prior to the current period. It also involves an elaborate system of management.
With the increase in digitalisation in all fields, even maintaining archives and access to it has become easier through online databases. Not only has it become a facilitator for modern researchers but has a more secure and physically viable form of archival protection.

Note: Archon, meaning the dwelling of a magistrate, is where the word archive has been derived from. By extension, it means the place where the documents and important files are stored and archive becomes the word for the storage of those records.