Archives act as a place for the preservation of significant historical and cultural artifacts. The Photographic Archive of the Société Jersiaise contains over 100,000 images dating from the mid-1840s to the present day. Archives however are not just physical, they can be a digital store of documents, texts and photographs. these can be public or private. The jersey archive also contains historical artists to help people for contextual reference when inquiring about a certain photo or book that has gained attention. 
Digital copies of historical photographs, documents, and audio recordings are the best way to both share and preserve historical items. Handling and displaying the original items cause wear and degradation. However, the items cannot be shared if they are protected from all degradation. Good digital copies allow unlimited sharing while also preserving the original items. Archives significantly improve the way in which historical artifacts and photos can be preserved. Photos are handled in a way which means very little damage is done to them therefore meaning that their quality is retained. They are intended on being used for various different purposes for decades to come. “The goal of Preservation Programs is to ensure that the records of our government will be appropriately preserved so they will be available for use.”
The ultimate purpose of preserving photos and creating archives is to share it with others. Future generations are able to look back at these archives and access information about their ancestors and gain insight about various historical events. Image collections deepen understanding of specific objects of art and the careers of individual artists as they also provide the means for a comparative approach to the study of artists’ works, national schools and period styles. Photo archives build their collections and gather documentation for the works of art they record through purchases, gifts and photography campaigns. Information about ownership, condition, attribution, and subject identification is recorded at the time of acquisition and is frequently updated.
IPhotography acts as a double role in the sense that it provides visual imagery and narrative of real events in history. It taps into the area of photography called Narrative photography. Narrative photography is the idea that photographs can be used to tell a story. Allen Feldman stated that “the event is not what happens. The event is that which can be narrated”. Because photography captures single discreet moments, and narrative as described by Jerome Bruner is irreducibly temporal, it might seem photography cannot actually represent narrative structure. We are able to look back at this narrative and reconstruct the past with the use of photo archives and facilities such as the Société Jersiaise.
The development of digital technology has provided archives and institutions with the opportunity to expand the accessibility of photographs beyond the walls of their homes. Although digital images are not substitutes for the originals, institutions are slowly acknowledging that they do provide an entry, an introduction, to the images. That introduction may be all a researcher needs.Digitizing photographs has also been the catalyst for some institutions to put their physical collections into deep storage, where they are no longer readily accessible, or to inaccessible or even destroy them. This raises urgent questions about the value of the original photographs as artifacts or evidence in their own right.On a much more positive note, digitization also offers the potential to conduct research that could never be done before. For instance, image recognition/matching software is being developed that would allow users to identify particular visual characteristics in a photograph and then search for and retrieve photographs of other works that share those characteristics. Having a physical representation of an image is what I strive for in my own personal archive. The sensation of handling a real life object instead of a digitized version is evidence of our connection to traditional forms of photography and media in general.
I will aim to incorporate the use of archives in my own personal study as I believe this will not only enrich my work but also provide a sense of legitimacy to it. Société Jersiaise focuses on the photographic preservation of the island which I believe is key to allowing us to remember about the tragic times of the occupation and WW2. I will be sourcing images from
Société Jersiaise, who provide digital copies of their archives at a small fee and using these as inspiration for my own personal photography or incorporating them in techniques such as photo collages.

In conclusion the trip to the archives has taught me a lot about the importance of treasuring the islands history and having facilities such as
Société Jersiaise. It has changed my perception of photo archives in the sense that I now understand the amount of work and sheer man power it takes to effectively preserve photographs for decades to come. It has also made me gain great respect for the foundation as they are preserving the islands history for millennia to come through photographic evidence. It is a painstaking and delicate job working with images that are hundreds of years old. It was a worth while experience which has taught me a lot not only about the evolution of photography in Jersey and the various artists who worked and resided here but also about the real life events during the occupation and the types of photos which were captured at the times.