With so many buildings lost to the Canterbury earthquakes, the documents that tell the story of the region have become even more important.
Yesterday, their new home was opened, nearly eight years after the original Christchurch Archives building was badly damaged in the quakes.
Chief archivist Richard Foy says the fact thousands of historic documents – ranging from handwritten notes to family records and photographs – all have a single destination is a cause for celebration.
"It feels fantastic because for the first time in seven years we've had all the holdings, all the archives actually in one place."
It took over a month to move all 50,000 boxes into the facility.
"It's about 13 kilometres of linear space so if you got every record and laid it out you would get 13 kilometres."
Access to the area is strictly controlled, but almost every item can be read on request.
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