This document outlines the key components that are typically included in a collection guide for archival research collections, such as a collection number, title, dates, creator, extent, abstract, scope and contents, series descriptions, box/folder lists, and other contextual information. It explains that all of this detailed information helps researchers efficiently search for relevant materials and understand the context around the documents.

1. Anatomy of a Towson
University Collection Guide
Towson University,
Special Collections and
Archives

2. Collection Guides include a lot
of information.
Click through this presentation
to understand what information
is included in a collection guide,
and why it is important.

3. The Collection Number is a
numeric code for the record
group of a collection.
Record groups define the
creators of the records and are
aligned to University
administrative hierarchies.

4. This section will tell you if a
record group replaces multiple
acquisitions. This record
group consists of three sets of
records donated from the
same creator, with the same
overall organization of
information.

5. This tells you what date the
collection guide was
completed.

6. It’s super important to have
the repository name,
university, and contact
information on a collection
guide. Make it easy for online
users to find the physical
collection.

7. A collection title will include
the provenance of a record
group (where the records
come from).

8. These dates explain the
coverage of the records:
the earliest date and the
latest date.

9. The creator of the records
must be included in a
collection guide. Knowledge of
the creator will provide
context for the information in
the records and the
organization of the
documents.

10. Provide a size or extent of the
collection so a researcher
knows how much material
they may have to go through,
and an administrator knows
how much storage is needed.
A linear foot is about 12
inches.

11. The abstract allows researchers
to quickly determine whether a
collection is relevant to their
research.

12. If a researcher finds a collection
relevant, they may be interested
in similar collections. That’s why
related material is included.

13. Conditions on access and use
elaborate on reasons the
collection may or may not be
available to researchers.
Sometimes documents are
restricted to protect security or
identity, copyright, or the
physical document, which might
be too fragile to handle.

14. Historical sketches and
biographies provide important
context to researchers studying
the documents.

15. Scope and contents notes allow
the researcher to find out what
materials are in the collection
and what subjects or topics can
be found.

16. Series descriptions allow
researchers to narrow their
search. If they are only
interested in annual reports,
they may not want series that
only have minutes and agendas.
This reduces the number of
irrelevant papers researchers
have to sift through.

17. The box and folder list allows
researchers to narrow their
search even more. If they are
only interested in the Annual
Report of 1973-1974, in this
example, they only need to
search one folder in Box 1,
Folder 1. That cuts out a lot of
irrelevant searching!

18. Notes allow you to credit the
person who worked on
processing the collection.

19. Notes allow a processor to
explain why they discarded
records.

20. Notes explain any treatments
the documents received to
preserve them for future use.

21. A citation note is always handy
to help out researchers writing
papers, who need to credit their
primary sources.

22. That’s about it!
You’ll find lots of information,
but all of it is important for
archives staff, and especially for
the researcher.
Ready to create your own
collection guide?