Definitions of Terms Frequently Used in Special Collections
- Archives
- (also archive), n. ~ 1. Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator, especially those materials maintained using the principles of provenance, original order, and collective control; permanent records. - 2. The division within an organization responsible for maintaining the organization's records of enduring value. - 3. An organization that collects the records of individuals, families, or other organizations; a collecting archives. - 4. The professional discipline of administering such collections and organizations. - 5. The building (or portion thereof) housing archival collections. - 6. A published collection of scholarly papers, especially as a periodical.
- Collective description
- n. ~ A technique of cataloging related items as a unified whole in a single record.
- Document
- n. ~ 1. Any written or printed work; a writing. - 2. Information or data fixed in some media. - 3. Information or data fixed in some media, but which is not part of the official record; a nonrecord. - 4. A written or printed work of a legal or official nature that may be used as evidence or proof; a record.
- File
- n. ~ 1. A group of documents related by use or topic, typically housed in a folder (or a group of folders for a large file). - 2. plural (files) • The whole of a collection of records. - 3. Computing • Collections of data stored for use by a computer; see data file.
v. ~ 4. To store documents in an organized collection for safekeeping and future reference. - 5. To present a document to the clerk of a court or recorder so that it can be entered into the official record. - 6. To initiate a lawsuit. - Finding Aid
- n. ~ 1. A tool that facilitates discovery of information within a collection of records. - 2. A description of records that gives the repository physical and intellectual control over the materials and that assists users to gain access to and understand the materials.
- Folder-level description
- In archival description, the folder level is typically the most precise - or "granular" - level of description. This is the level of the individual folder that is one of the constituents of a series. For instance, a folder of correspondence entitled "Smith, Jane" might be one of the folders of a correspondence series.
Note: the archives and manuscripts database used by GWU labels both folder-level and item-level descriptions as "Item" level descriptions. - Manuscript
- n. (ms, abbr.) ~ 1. A handwritten document. - 2. An unpublished document. - 3. An author's draft of a book, article, or other work submitted for publication.
- Manuscripts collection
- n. ~ A collection of personal or family papers.
- Original order
- (also registry principle, respect for original order, l'ordre primitif, respect de l'ordre intérieur), n. ~ The organization and sequence of records established by the creator of the records.
- Provenance
- n. (provenancial, adj.) ~ 1. The origin or source of something. - 2. Information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection.
- Record Group
- (also archive group), n. ~ A collection of records that share the same provenance and are of a convenient size for administration.
- Series
- n. ~ 1. 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; a file group; a record series. - 2. Bibliography • A group of items, each with its own title, also bearing a collective title for the group as a whole.
- Series description
- n. ~ A description of a series, including the title, scope and content note, size or volume, dates of the material, and arrangement.
- Subgroup
- n. ~ A body of related records within a record group or collection, each corresponding to an administrative subdivision in the originating organization.
- Subseries
- n. ~ A body of documents within a series readily distinguished from the whole by filing arrangement, type, form, or content.
Most of these terms were taken from "A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology" by RICHARD PEARCE-MOSES, available online at the Society of American Archivists' home page. For a fuller discussion of these terms, please feel free to either consult the SAA website or to speak with a Special Collections' staff member.
