4.6 Finding Aids (Added Value)

Purpose and Scope

This element identifies any other finding aids to the materials being described, particularly if they are available to the user, and provides information about the form and content of those finding aids.

Commentary: Finding aid is a broad term that covers any type of description or means of reference made or received by an archival repository in the course of establishing administrative or intellectual control over archival materials. The term “finding aid” can include a variety of descriptive tools prepared by an archives (e.g., guides, calendars, inventories, box lists, indexes, etc.) or prepared by the creator of the records (e.g., registers, indexes, transfer lists, classification schemes, etc.). Such tools provide a representation of, or a means of access to, the materials being described that enables users to identify material relating to the subject of their inquiries. An archival repository’s descriptive system will likely consist of various types of finding aids, each serving a particular purpose.

Sources of Information

4.6.1 Derive the information from the other finding aids.

General Rules

4.6.2 Record information about any existing finding aids that provide information relating to the context and contents of the unit being described. As appropriate and available, include information about the type (e.g., list, index, guide, calendar, etc.), medium (e.g., cards, electronic, etc.), and content (e.g., names of correspondents, subjects, etc.) of the finding aid, the number or other identifier of the finding aid (if any), any relevant information about its location or availability, and any other information necessary to assist the user in evaluating its usefulness. Include finding aids prepared by the creator (e.g., registers, indexes, etc.) that are part of the unit being described.

Box list available.

Electronic finding aid available via the Internet in the Online Archive of California; folder level control: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8z09p8pd.

An item list, a file of calendar sheets, and indexes by subject, type of author, and (selectively) place written from are available in the repository; filed under M316.

A Marriage Index database of information from these records is maintained by the Ulster County Clerk's Office Archives.

Register of outgoing correspondence in this series found in the first folder.

An index to the content of the written briefs and presentations is included at the beginning of series 2.

4.6.3 Optionally, provide information on where to obtain a copy of the finding aid(s).

Finding aid available on the Online Archive of California.

4.6.4 Optionally, if the materials have not yet been completely arranged and described by the repository, indicate the existence of any relevant descriptive tools for administrative or intellectual control over the materials that existed at the time the repository acquired the unit being described and that are available for consultation, such as records disposition schedules, transfer lists, and so on.

Contact the archivist for access to transfer lists of box contents for this series.

Unpublished accession inventory for this unprocessed but usable collection is available; please contact the repository.

Published Descriptions

4.6.5 Optionally, where descriptions of the materials or other finding aids (e.g., abstracts, calendars, indexes, etc.) have been published in standard lists or reference works, provide this information in a standard and concise form.

Described in: Library of Congress Acquisitions: Manuscript Division, 1979. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1981.

Listed in: Ricci. Census, vol.1, p. 857, no. 4.

The entire calendar has been published in twelve volumes from the set of cards held by the University of Illinois. The Mereness Calendar: Federal Documents of the Upper Mississippi Valley 1780-1890 (Boston: G. K. Hall and Co., 1971).