Topics covered have included: the history of archives; individual archivists and archival trends; the analysis of record-keeping practices over time and space; various media and their evolution and characteristics; theoretical problems; practical solutions; new fields of history (and related disciplines), and new kinds of documentation being explored by users; legal and ethical concerns; new technological developments; the relationship of archivists to other information management professionals; and so on.

The publication of occasional articles, exhibition reviews and so on in French began from the very first issue of Archivaria in 1976 under general editor Peter Bower.

In an effort to provide greater access to articles in English for Francophone speakers, Archivaria began publishing abstracts of each article in French beginning with the Autumn 1993 issue, under general editor Jay Atherton.

In 2005–2006, ACA and Simon Fraser University Library digitized all past issues of Archivaria for free viewing by the public, using Open Journal Systems software.

[3] Archivaria continued after 2006 as an electronic publication in addition to print, however the eight most recent issues of the online version are viewable only by subscribers and ACA members.