What is a Finding Aid?

A Finding Aid is a guide to a collection of archival materials. It includes descriptions about condition and size as well as contextual information such as subject and place names. We also explain copyright and note any restrictions for researchers.

Finding Aids are imperfect and they can be confusing!

As we strive toward making necessary changes-like adding icons or cleaning up pages to make them more screen reader friendly, check back regularly to see our progress.

To get started, look toward the top left quadrant of your screen. You can select Finding Aids from the Menu to begin browsing.

As a researcher, it is likely that you will be more concerned with some areas of the Finding Aid than others. To demystify how to use them, please see the explanations under these commonly used elements. The elements correspond to sections you will see in our finding aids in the order that they appear on the screen.

Identity Elements

Dates: this is the date range of the materials in the collection

Content and Structure Elements

Scope and Content Note: this area of the finding aid is the narrative account of the collection. It includes contextual information that the archivist thought would help researchers understand the collection better.

Conditions of Access Elements

This area lays out what ways you can use the materials, including any information related to copyright and reproduction.

Access Points

The last section of our finding aids has subject access points which you can click on to be directed to other finding aids that also have the same subject headings.

What is linear feet?

Linear feet is a way of expressing the size of a collection. It is measurement that communicates how much shelf space is taken up by the boxes. A banker’s box is 1 linear foot. One legal size archival document box equals about .417 linear feet. This will help you understand how much we have available to meet your research request. For example, if a collection is 25 linear feet, you might realize that you need to make multiple appointments to view the collection in its entirety.

We are happy to help. Please, reach out for assistance!

collections@sloanlongway.org
810-237-3421