I have been lucky enough to work for some excellent repositories, where most of the finding aids are published online. Frankly it's nice to be able to look back on one's work and remember how things were done. On the other hand it's a little scary to see one's work a couple years later. I always end up wanting to spend more time fixing things.
| Institution |
Collection
(click on the title to see the finding aid) |
|---|---|
| National Library of Medicine
Bethesda, MD |
Ludwik Gross Collection |
| University of Fort Hare
Alice, South Africa |
ANC
Cuban Mission Records
ANC Tokyo Mission Records |
| University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library Ann Arbor, MI |
A.F.K. Organski Papers
George Uhlenbeck Papers |
For those of you who aren't familiar with Archives and their access systems, finding aids are a print (and online) method for keeping intellectual control over archival holdings.
In the past eight years new approaches for creating access to archival collections have been adopted with an eye to the future. The ideal is to create a system whereby a patron may gain access to multiple collections using a web browser. Instead of a blind search across a varied range of repositories, the user would have predictable relevant results that could lead to more fruitful research.
The Encoded Archival Description project at loc.gov/ead describes the effort to "make archival resources from many institutions accessible to users..."
All material copyright 2007 by Edwin Staples