A Finding Aid, sometimes called a Key, is a document created by an archivist to track information about a collection to help better understand who made it, where it came from, and what’s in it. While there are some standard sections that will appear in most finding aids, there can be a lot of variation in how they’re written. Regardless, they’re good places to start to answer some of your more basic questions about a collection.
Archives often have finding aids somewhere on their website for you to search. However, if you're having trouble finding a finding aid, it's possible that it only exists as a piece of paper or as a file that is only accessible to archive staff. So, reach out to the archive to see if you can get a copy if you can't find it online.
[insert sample finding aid]
Check the Title and the Creator section, as well as Administrative or Biographical History and the Box List.
Collections are typically titled after the entity who collected the materials. Thus, if you were curious about a famous author’s letters, looking for a collection with her name in it is a great place to start.
The name of the entity used in the Title is usually repeated in the Creator section, but there could be additional names listed here as well. For example, the famous, long-time CEO of a company could be listed as an additional creator in his business’s collection.
While not required of every finding aid, look for Administrative or Biographical History sections as well. This should give you more background on the entity who created the records, including things like birth and death date, corporation name changes, and other important information to contextualize the records. This is also helpful if you were searching for a collection using an older version of an entity’s name (such as a woman’s maiden name or a corporation’s former name).
You can also look at the Box List, which is an inventory of all of the files in the collection. It is fairly rare for a finding aid to break down the list into individual items, but other creators who were not captured in the Title or Creator sections could also be listed here as folder titles or in the rare item-level list. This is especially true for things like letters.
Look at the System of Arrangement and the Box List.
As discussed in the section that introduced you to the archive, collections can be broken down into series, subseries, and files. The System of Arrangement section is not required in a finding aid, but when included, it will often list the series and subseries that the collection was divided into. It may also include notes regarding what changes were made by archivists and what remained from how the donor organized their own records. While you can also figure out the breakdown of series from looking at the Box List, System of Arrangement can be a faster section to scan when trying to figure out how all of the materials were broken up so you can better target the series relevant to your search.
Check the Scope and Content and the Box List.
To get an understanding of the kind of stuff in the collection, check the Scope and Content section (sometimes called the Abstract) and the Box List. There can be a lot of variety in how Abstracts are written, but they generally give important information about the types of things in the collection, when they’re from, where they were created, general topics covered, and notable gaps in the collection.
Meanwhile, the Box List is usually towards the bottom of the finding aid and offers an inventory of the collection. It is fairly rare for these inventories to tell you what specific items are in the collection, but there are usually broad descriptions of boxes or folders that can help point you in the right direction. For example, a folder might indicate that it has executive meeting minutes from 1951-1952. Another box might be correspondence from letter writers with a last name that starts with M. While these are not specific, they can help guide you regarding what kinds of things are in a collection and what specific boxes you want to look at.
Look at the Extent section or the Box List
The Extent section should tell you how much material there is and can potentially help you determine how much time to dedicate to a particular collection. Extent is usually measured in cubic feet or linear feet. Cubic feet is the height by width by depth measurement of every box in the collection added together, while linear feet just measures each box from front to back.
The Extent may also be measured in cartons or boxes. Boxes usually refer to flip top boxes that are generally 2.5 to 5 inches wide and 12 to 15 inches long. Meanwhile, cartons usually refer to larger, banker box sized containers. Cartons are usually 12 inches wide and range from 12 to 15 inches long. There are also boxes in other sizes, but these are good reference points while you’re starting out.
You can also check the Box List. This will tell you how many boxes are in a collection and you can get a sense of how much is in each box by looking at the items or folders that are listed in that box.
Look at the Date section first, and then look at the Scope and Content and the Box List.
There is usually a date range listed at the end of the collection title, as well as a Date section, which indicates the period during which these materials were created. If a date range is prefaced with “Bulk,” this means that there might be some documents before or after that date range, but the vast majority of the records are from the bulk range. If it is prefaced with a “c.” or “circa,” the date range is an approximation or more of a guess.
Date ranges are often listed in the Box List for individual boxes, folders, or items. This can also help you determine what boxes or folders will be most relevant to you, based on your research question. So, that is another good place to check for more specific dates. Scope and Content can also sometimes list the date range for which they have different types of records. This can be very helpful if there is a difference in the date range where budget books were kept.
Look at the Repository Information section.
The Repository Information section should tell you what archive these materials are housed in and the address of that archive. Unlike with libraries, archives usually keep their collections in locked or hidden storage, meaning that you will not be able to locate the shelf that the box you need is on yourself. So, the specific location of the materials is usually not easily available or relevant to you as a user. However, keep your eyes peeled for any indications that an item might be off-site in the catalog record or in any notes in the finding aid.
Two good places to look are the Related Archival Materials and any subject headings listed with the catalog record or in the finding aid.
Related Archival Materials is not a required section and may not appear in every finding aid. But when it does, it often links to other collections in that archive or in another archive that is connected to this collection. This could be the papers of a spouse, an editor, a company in the same area of business, another chapter of the organization, more papers from the same organization that ended up somewhere else, and so on. Depending what you’re looking for, this could help point you towards more materials on a similar topic or in the same realm as the collection you’re looking at. Of course, just because there is not a related collection listed, this does not mean it doesn't exist. Ask the archivist for help or go back to your search process.
Subject terms are not typically part of finding aids, but those too can help you search for other collections on similar topics.
Check the Condition of Access and Condition of Use section!
While most finding aids at most public archives will indicate that the records in the collection are fully open to use, meaning you can request to look at any of the boxes in the collection and look at everything in that box, this is not always the case. There could be laws like FERPA or state privacy laws restricting access to certain records, which either means you cannot access the records at all without special permission or you have to wait until the date that the records open. Restricted Conditions of Access could also come as a request from the donator, which is often the case for still-living public figures who want to wait until their passing to open some of their records.
Condition of Use, meanwhile, refers to how you’re able to use the records once you access them. This often comes in the form of a copyright statement, which may indicate that you need permission to republish or quote materials from the collection without seeking permission from the copyright holder. Depending on how you plan to use the materials, seeking permission from the copyright holder could be another step in your publication process to factor into your research timeline.
While this might not seem immediately relevant to your research, the collection is little use to you if you can’t publish your hard work. So, make sure to check the Condition of Access and Condition of Use sections of the finding aid early on in the process to be sure it’s open and usable. In any case where access or use are restricted, talk to the archivists at the repository and see if there are any special exceptions to the restrictions on access or use.
