Leichhardt Archives
What are Archives?
Archives are records. They are documents or other sources of information that have been created, received, and maintained as evidence and information for legal or business purposes. Records exist in a variety of formats including paper, electronic and film.
Archives or archival records are records of individuals or organisations that are:
no longer used for ongoing business,
are of continuing informational value, and
have been selected for permanent preservation.
Archives are generally:
not inter-mixed with the records of other individuals or organisations;
kept in the same order in which they were originally created and accumulated.
Records preserved as archives are kept together and identified as:
record series
Record series are: named;
given a unique alpha-numeric identifier; and
described in the context of the organisation's functions and activities.
Examples of record series:
the minute books of a Council
the rate books of a Council
a set of index cards
a sequence of correspondence files controlled by a common numbering system
NSW State archives are records: from the Local Government, State Government, Court, Parliamentary or University sectors;
generally more than 30 years old; appraised as archives in accordance with a Records Disposal Authority; and
generally held and controlled by State Records at the Western Sydney Records Centre, Kingswood.
Council records are selected as State archives using the:
General Disposal Authority for Local Government Records (GDA 10)
GDA 10:
- requires that various record types be kept as State archives
- requires that all pre 1920 records be kept as State archives; authorises the destruction of other records.