Archives Research Center General Research Guide: Manuscript & Archival Collections

 Semester Research Hours for Summer 2020

*BY APPOINTMENT ONLY*

*Appointments must be made 24 business hours in advance.

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The core of the manuscript holdings in Archives Research Center is built upon the Atlanta University Trevor Arnett Library's Negro Collection. Under the auspices of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, the archival and manuscript holdings continue to develop and expand. Some of the collections in our holdings document civil rights, race relations, education, literature, visual and performing arts, religion, politics, and social work and many others.  

 Click here to browse our Manuscript Collections

Finding aids act as inventories that describe and list the contents of collections and contain information about the person, family, or organization that created the collection.

Through the Archives Research Center finding aids website, you will be able to search and browse finding aids for more than 150 collections available for research. Visit the link below to access the Archives Research Center finding aids.

Finding Aids

Organization of Materials

Collection

• A group of materials with some unifying characteristic
• Materials assembled by a person, organization, or repository from a variety of sources.

Series

• A group of similar records that are arranged according to a filing system and that are related as the result of being created, received or used in the same activity

Subseries

• A body of documents within a series readily distinguished from the whole by filing arrangement, type, form, or content.

File

• A group of documents related by use or topic, typically housed in a folder.

Description of Materials

Person

• A human individual

Organization

• A corporate body

Subject

• Theme or topic of a work

Container

• A package or housing used to hold materials, such as a box or folder

Creator

• A person, family, or corporate body that created, assembled, accumulated, and/or maintained and used records in the context of personal or corporate body activity. A creator can also be responsible for the intellectual content of a single item.