The end differs from an ending
A story's ending is a shape the writer gives it. The past itself has no such neat close. Running out of material or time is not the same as reaching a conclusion that ties things up.
The past never fully disappears
An archive is defined as the place that keeps what will not go away. Like dust, the material of history cannot be erased; it lingers, gets moved around and resettles. It never truly vanishes.
The archive became a theoretical object
Scholars across the humanities and social sciences have turned their attention to the archive itself, not just to what it contains. This attention treats the act of collecting and storing records as something that needs explaining. It is a practice in its own right.