Glossary of Terms and Symbols
Archives are materials created or received by a person, family, or organization that are preserved because of the enduring value of the information they contain.
Collections are groups of materials assembled by a person, family, organization, or collecting area. They can be divided hierarchically into series, groupings, and files.
Collection guides, also known as finding aids or inventories, allow users to discover, understand, and access archival collections. Collection guides describe the creation, arrangement, content, and context of archival materials.
Containers are anything that houses or stores archival materials. A container might be a standard size archival box, an oversize box, a broadside folder, or a media case.
Digital records are born-digital and digitized materials that are available online.
Collecting areas are individual units that hold archival materials under the umbrella of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Minnesota. Archival Collection Guides contain finding aids from 14 collecting areas at the University of Minnesota.
Name records are the people, families, and organizations that create archival materials. In Archival Collection Guides, users can view name records to see all of the collections created by a person, family, or organization. Name records are shared across all collecting units at the University of Minnesota, and staff choose them from established lists, including the Library of Congress.
Subject records are topics, places, and genres used to describe the context and content of archival materials. In Archival Collection Guides, users can view a subject record to see all of the collections relating to that topic, place, or genre. Subject records are shared across all collecting units at the University of Minnesota, and staff choose them from controlled lists, including the Library of Congress.
Use the Citation button to generate a formatted citation for the material you are viewing. Citations can be generated at all levels of a finding aid, including at the folder or item level.
Use the PDF Print button to access a fully formatted PDF of a finding aid. PDFs can be accessed at all levels of a finding aid.
Click the Digital Object button in a folder to view the digital version of the folder or item.