Researching in an archive sometimes proves to be tricky.
Items are not usually arranged the same way they are in libraries--that is, by call number. Archives organize their material by collection. Sometimes, this organizational style can prove daunting, but once you know how to use a finding aid, you'll be reseraching in no time!
Finding aids are inventories that describe collection contents in greater detail. This page breaks down the essential parts of a finding aid. This will help you interpret the information presented in a finding aid. The sections of a finding aid explained here are broken down into six parts: Descriptive Information; History (Biography or Description); Scope and Notes; Subject Headings; Folder List; Administrative and Citation Information.
This part of finding aid states the collection title, collection number, and dates of the material. The Quantity will tell you how large a collection is. The Abstract gives a brief description of what you can expect to find in the collection.
The history section of the finding aid will have a biography on either the person or family (if it is a collection of personal papers) or history of the organization. This section will help you to understand the context in which these records were created and sometimes provide important background information.
The scope and content notes in a finding aid will describe how the collection is arranged. It also contains another summary and details any restrictions on the collection. Some collections that contain personal information may be restricted.
Subject headings are words used to describe the collection. You may find it useful to use subject terms when searching for additional collections.
Archives collections are not indexed item by item, but rather by folders. These folders may have only a few documents or contain many and be very thick! The folder title will describe the subject of all the documents found in that folder. At the end of the finding aid there will be a section that lists the title of each folder and the box it is found in. This information will help you identify folders within collections that you'll want to review.
Every finding aid will also have a preferred citation that includes the basic information needed to cite this source.
