Finding Aids for Archival Collections

The finding aid provides information about:

  • The origin of the collection or record group
  • A brief biography or historical sketch of the individual or organization that created the collection
  • A statement of the intellectual and physical organization of the collections
  • A narrative "scope and content note" describing the intellectual content of the collection as a whole and of its major subdivisions
  • A detailed "contents list" providing a hierarchical listing of the collections from the series down to the file, or possibly the item, level
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NOTE: Not all collections have finding aids. If you are beginning your search, we recommend looking in the MIRLYN online catalog first.