Using Archival Materials

Archives exist both to preserve historic materials and to make them available for use. In order to use archival materials, it is useful to know a little bit about how archives function and how we provide access. For more information on how we work, see What are Archives?

Since the materials in the Innovations in Jewish Life听Collections are unique, the archivists in charge of caring for those materials strive to preserve them for use today and for future generations of researchers. As such, we provide access to the materials through several tools including the website you are currently viewing, which includes a broad overview of each our collections with links out to appropriate resources where available, and findings aids for processed collections. While finding aids do not exist for unprocessed collections, many have inventories that can be accessed through the archivists.

Finding aids, also known as finding guides, registers, or inventories, are tools created by archivists to help you navigate archival and manuscript collections. A finding aid describes and details the organization and contents of a collection. Reading finding aids, whether online or on paper, can help you efficiently identify relevant collections to your research听and discover boxes or folders听of interest within those collections. Finding aids...

  • Establish a biographical or historical context for the collection.
  • Describe the scope and contents of the collection.
  • Specify the arrangement of the collection.
  • Provide a list of boxes and folders within the collection.
For processed collections, the 91福利社 University听Libraries' Rare and Distinctive Collections department uses finding aids that include:

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Abstract
This is a brief summary of the organization or person the collection is about and what you can expect to find in the collection.

Biographical Note or Administrative History
This section generally contains a biography on either the person or family (if it is a collection of personal papers) or history of the organization.

Scope and Content
This section explains what types of documents and other items can be found in the collection.

System of Arrangement
This section discusses how the contents of a collection have been arranged. Archivists strive to respect context, intention, and original order of the collection鈥檚 creator.

Restrictions
This section explains any restrictions concerning who may view the collection and how to access any restricted items.

Acquisition Information
This section states who donated the collection and when they donated the items.

Processing Information
This section contains information about how the collection was processed, by whom, and by what standards. If standards are not listed, CU finding aids will generally use the content standard called DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard) and follow a DublinCore schema.

Inventory List
This section presents a detailed listing of what is in the collection. The inventory is often grouped into "series" and "subseries," especially in large collections. Series and subseries sometimes represent how the person or organization that donated the collection organized their papers. The inventory usually lists the titles of folders in the collection, but sometimes it will list individual items and sometimes it will list only titles of boxes.