Finding Aids

What is a finding aid? From the Society of American Archivists: "... 1. A tool that facilitates discovery of information within a collection of records. - 2. A description of records that gives the repository physical and intellectual control over the materials and that assists users to gain access to and understand the materials." What does that mean? A finding aid is a descriptive guide for archival collections and usually includes information about the creator of the materials, formats included, dates covered, and how the materials are arranged. A finding aid helps researchers and archivists to learn more about the collections and to find the materials in a collection that will be most helpful for their research questions.

To search the archival collections, use the Special Collections Search. Search Tip: Enter coll* in the Call Number field in addition to your other search terms. This will limit your search to archival collections only.