Records of permanent historical and cultural value are stored in The Archives; the mandate of which is to serve as the official repository to preserve, arrange, describe and subsequently make available the records in its care for research and reference. Since these records tell the story of the Virgin Islands and its people, access to them is imperative for various reasons such as: to act as evidence in court cases; verification of dates of birth, death and other personal or public events; ownership of land; property boundaries; chronicling historical events for educational materials; genealogical research etc.