Hi Jeff, You can create 2 entities (identical structure). You would use one as your main (current) dataset. If you need to archive your data, you can copy the records (via create object or you can check out the clone functionality in the community commons marketplace module) to the second entity and delete from the original and you can start with a blank list again.
Like for any entity, you will be able to eg create a list view or datagrid to display the archived records.