An enlightened man once wrote: “A nation is the sum of its memories, and when those memories are allowed to die, it is less of a nation.” In other words, a nation’s past defines its present and future based on the memories it carries with it from generation to generation.
Through the ages, nations have strived to preserve their “memories” for posterity through public archives, libraries, museums and historical monuments. Archives are perhaps the most widely used means of recording and preserving historical memories for future generations.