The tutorial examines the history and current state of the system of archival institutions in Russia. The main trends in the development of state, municipal and departmental archives were analyzed. The issues of creating and improving the network of archives, their classification and typology are highlighted, the main directions of work and problems arising in the activities of archives are indicated, the composition of the funds of the largest state and departmental storage facilities is shown. For full-time and part-time students studying in the direction of training "Documentation and archival studies."