The Archives catalog is for cataloging unpublished materials such as documents, manuscripts, oral histories, videotapes, personal papers, maps, and music collections. This chapter will explain how to create data for the various catalog fields. Detailed definitions are provided as we go through the catalog screens to help clarify the type of entry for each field. As in all the catalogs, you may choose to enter data in only those fields that are appropriate to the item being cataloged.
The Archives catalog field names are based on the work of the International Council on Archives (ICA) Ad Hoc Commission on Descriptive Standards. The rules of description for archival material have been detailed in the ISAD(G), International Standard Archival Description (General) document. For more information about the ICA, visit their website at https://www.ica.org/en.
Archives may be cataloged as a single item, such as a letter, manuscript, or diary, or as a complex set of documents, such as the complete records of a corporation. This chapter will show you how to catalog large collections of documents, such as corporate records, using multilevel linking. You will also learn how to catalog individual items, such as letters, diaries, original manuscripts, newspaper clippings, receipts, ledger books, and other personal papers.
Here are two definitions that will help you navigate through the field names in the Archives catalog.
Unit of Description - A unit of description may be a single item, a series containing multiple folders, a folder containing multiple documents, or a full set of corporate records that are treated as a single entity. You can enter any of these units of description as a single catalog record in Archives.
Fonds/Collection - The whole of the documents, regardless of form or extent, created and/or accumulated by a particular person, family, or corporate body in the course of that creator's activities and functions.