In the first volume of Zedler’s 1732 Universal-Lexicon, the word Archiv is defined as a “certain place” where “the Instrumenta publica and other important and classified documents affecting the state and laws of the prince and his territory are held in safekeeping.” The definition of the term in the Encyclopédie of Diderots and d’Alembert, influenced by the Enlightenment, is not much different: Se dit d’anciens titres ou chartes…