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Archival Finding Aids - General
(Specific aids)
Saskatchewan Mennonite Historian
Archives have their own organization pattern that is different from Libraries or other databases. A set of instructions called a RAD (Rules of Archival Description) is followed. The product of the archives use of RAD is a well organized archives and a set of "Archival Finding Aids" that enables users to exploit the resources
A "Finding Aid" is the archival equivalent of a Library's card catalogue or database. Because archival material does not lend itself to easy subject classifications and other Library descriptive conventions, finding aids can be quite long and detailed. A finding aid can be maintained as part of a database, in hard copy, or both.
Archival material is described using a "multi-level" format. The highest level entry is of the "fonds" itself; that is: all the records of a single creator. For example all the records created by the Swift Current Bible School (SCBI) comprise a single fonds. Fonds-level entries tend to be somewhat general.
The next level of description is the "sub-fonds" or sous-fonds. Descriptions at this level tend to be of administrative groupings. The SCBI Board, for example, contains the Principles, treasurers and Administrator sub-fonds.
The next level is the series, which is where the records live. Records are created when an agency or individual carries out a particular function. The records of specific functions are grouped together into series, for example: "SCBI Board Minutes".
Finally, record series are made up of files and items. The SCBI Finding Aid does carry descriptions for some individual files but none for items or individual sheets of paper.
A good finding aid should contain the following elements:
Title: the title of the particular record group being described.
Dates: the date range covered by the records.
Physical Description: the amount of records in the group (in linear
metres for textual records), what media they are on and any other
information about their form or condition that seems relevant.
Administrative History or Biography: a short history of the organization
or individual which created the records.
Scope and Content: a description of what kind of records will be found
and what they are about.
Other information: this includes what access restrictions might exist for
the particular group of records, what language they are in, where one
might find related records and other relevant information.
Other types of finding aids might include file lists, subject indexes and separate databases, particularly valuable for photographs and other material usually described on an item-by-item basis.
The Saskatchewan Council of Archives, of which we are a member has created a manual to assist archivists in using the Rules for Archival Description (RAD) when creating finding aids. On-line and download-able versions of it are available on the SCA's web site at http://www.usask.ca/archives/rad/index.htm