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We are obliged to preserve archives primarily for their administrative or legal value. Indeed, archives are an integral part of an organization’s information system and represent the backbone of its proper functioning on the administrative, and also financial and legal levels. They may also have historical value as witnesses to the past. François Mitterrand (President of France from 1981 to 1995) summed up the answer to these questions about the values of archives in the following terms: “Archives in all countries, by keeping track of yesterday’s acts and their paths, illuminate but also command the present. Those who act responsibly are well aware that one does not set directions in ignorance of the past” [MIT 88]. We also keep archives for the good governance of organizations, saving space, time and money.

In other words, archives are evidential documents that allow the continuity of administrative services, historical research and economic, social and cultural development.