Collection Registers/Finding Aids

     In my internship, I have to produce three end products; submit the collection to Riches M.I., accession the collection into PastPerfect, and create a finding aid for the collection. I have already outlined how to contribute to Riches M.I. and PastPerfect in previous blogs, and now I will outline how to create a collection register. I used the information I found while comparing collection descriptions of major archives to create my register.

     First of all, a Register is a detailed description of a collection. You may also hear the word “finding aid” when discussing Registers, and to my understanding the words are interchangeable. The purpose of the Register/finding aid is to give the institution intellectual control over the collection, meaning the institution and researchers can know every aspect of the collection just by looking at the Register. This gives researchers the ability to quickly determine if what they need exists in a collection. This may seem confusing to you, and it took me awhile to fully understand the terms. Since I am a hands-on learner who learns by examples, it was difficult for me to create my register without an exact layout to go by. Now that I have finished it, I’m proud that I created it without the use of an example.

     Some Registers will be different from others, as each collection is different and requires different things. The components of my Register consist of a preface, and introduction, a biographical/historical note, a scope and content note, a series description, and a container list. I will explain each of them.

     Preface: This begins the Register by stating any restrictions on the collection. For example, the Sanford High School Collection is open for research. The preface also states who owns the copyrights to the collection. My Register additionally mentions that scanning and copying services are available upon request.

     Introduction: This section is a summary of what the collection consists of, and what the strengths and weaknesses of the collection are.

     Biographical/Historical Note: This is where the background information of the creating institution is stated. In the case of my Register, it gives the background information of Sanford High School.

     Scope and Content Note: This section divides the collection into series, by related objects. The series in the Sanford High School Collection are photographs, documents Salmagundi yearbooks, and miscellaneous. These series are then divided into subseries of related materials. The scope and content note describes what each series and subseries consists of, relevant dates, and what kind of research the series/subseries would be good for.

     Series Description: This section is just like the scope and content note, but without all of the detail. It lays out the series and subseries.

     Container List: This section is a detailed table of contents. It lays out every box, folder, and item in the collection. In my Register, I included the title, date (if known), and item number, and amount of pages for every item in the collection.

     This is the format of my Register. As I said, some Registers will be different depending on the institution and the needs of the collection. Next, I will post the Sanford High School Collection Register.