Records in Orbis may state that there is an unpublished guide to the collection in the repository. A guide provides detailed information on the organization and activities of the agency or person that created the records, arrangement, size, chronological scope, and subject content of the records, along with other descriptive material. Also included are lists of box contents and/or folder titles which provide unique information on manuscript collections or archival record groups. The box numbers enable you to identify and call for relevant portions of each collection. Because guides have been created over the course of many years, their format varies.

The finding aid to the Erik Waller Papers is brief, but includes typical components.

References found in the database can be traced further in these guides. Earlier in the tutorial, when you searched Orbis for the personal name Ouspensk?, you found a reference to the Maurice Nicoll Papers. You learned that Nicoll was a follower of Uspenskii. Here are some pages from the Nicoll Papers finding aid. You can see the specific references to where Uspenskii's name appears.

In other finding aids the subject matter of research interest may not be quite so obvious. Earlier in the tutorial, you searched Orbis for the subject Insurance, health and a keyword "medical insurance". Both search results directed you to the Albert Snoke Papers. Here are some pages from the finding aid to the Albert Waldo Snoke Papers. Material on health insurance may appear in the General Files in correspondence with individuals, in the Writings Files, and in the Topical Files. At this point you would need to call for the boxes to discover if these files are relevant to your subject.

The pages of finding aids in this tutorial are mounted as examples for demonstration purposes only. Most finding aids for collections in Manuscripts and Archives are not yet available online. You may either view them in the Cowles Reference Center or order a copy by mail.

Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240, New Haven, CT 06520-8240

mssa.assist@yale.edu

All contents copyright ©2000, Manuscripts and Archives,
Yale University Library. All rights reserved.
URL: http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/