Might need a plugin for that…Recent Posts seems to give that ability:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/recent-posts-plugin/
You need the Post Plugin Library for that: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/post-plugin-library/
A plugin would be OK I guess. Is there some reference document for standard wp functions (like wp_get_archives) that lists their available parameters? And in what file the source code is? I can’t seem to find that one.