Finding Aids
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Finding Aids IndexWhat is a Finding Aid?Finding aids (also called guides or descriptive inventories) are the key to locating archival and other primary source materials. The finding aid to an individual collection includes a detailed description of the collection, explains how it is organized, and outlines its contents, listing locations within a collection where relevant materials may be found. Online Finding Aids to Processed Collections in The University ArchivesThe University Archives holds 1,000 processed collections of personal papers of faculty and records of University departments and organizations. There is a finding aid for each of the collections, but not all of the finding aids are available online. This page describes how to locate the finding aids that are online. Finding aids on the Finding Aids Index page are grouped by the school or category with which the collection is associated (e.g., Speech professor Lew Sarett’s papers are listed under the School of Communication; the Records of the Associated Student Government are listed under Student Activities). To search by school or department on the Finding Aids Index page, click on the name of the school or category for a list of titles of related collections. To find an individual's name, the name of a department or organization, or a topic, use the "Find" option in the "Edit" drop-down menu on the toolbar at the top of the page. Also useful is the search box on the Archives' home page or any other library pages--use this “Search Library web sites” box to search all online finding aids. Once you have located the collection on the Finding Aids Index page, click on the title of the collection for the complete finding aid. These on-line finding aids require The University Archives is also contributing finding aids to the Northwestern University Library "Archival Collections" portal at http://www.library.northwestern.edu/ead/index.html . This database provides access to collections of primary-source materials held by various departments within Northwestern University's libraries, through finding aids made searchable through EAD (Encoded Archival Description). In addition to these electronic finding aids, paper finding aids for all 1,000 archival collections are located in the University Archives Reading Room. The collections themselves are non-circulating, and can only be used in the Reading Room.
Last updated February 27, 2008 |
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