Finding aid

How it is used

It may describe a collection at several levels; it is not necessarily a transcription of the records.

Example sentences

1. The finding aid led us to correspondence filed under a former department name.

   Description provides a route to records whose labels are unfamiliar.

2. The finding aid explains why several boxes remain unavailable.

   Access information can accompany descriptions of contents.

Common collocations

• consult a finding aid
• archival finding aid

Related terms

• archiveA collection of historical records kept for long-term use, or the building or institution where such records are stored and made available to researchers.
• archivistA professional who collects, organises, preserves and describes the records in an archive and helps researchers find and use them.

More terms: Sources and Archives

• primary source
• secondary source
• manuscript
• bias
• census
• chronicle
• source criticism
• oral history
• inscription
• provenance
• palaeography
• diplomatics