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What is a finding aid?

A finding aid is an inventory of an archival collection. The finding aid provides contextual information about the collection and its creators, and it also outlines the collection's arrangement.

A finding aid may include the following components:

• indication of the collection's size, date coverage, and formats;
• biographical note or organizational history;
• scope and content note;
• descriptions of record series;
• container lists.

At Archives & Special Collections

Finding aids are available for all processed collections (those that have been organized and described) and some unprocessed collections.