Archive, n.; pl. Archives.
Etymology: [F. archives, pl., L. archivum, archium, fr. Gr. Archi-, pref.]
1. pl.
The place in which public records or historic documents are kept. Our words . . . . become records in God's court, and are laid up in his archives as witnesses. Gov. of Tongue.
2. pl.
Public records or documents preserved as evidence of facts; as, the archives of a country or family. [Rarely used in sing.] Some rotten archive, rummaged out of some seldom explored press. Lamb.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Registers; records; chronicles.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for archive; he lists it under record.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.