Click on any of the following links to jump to a particular point in the Guide or use the scroll bar to read the entire document.

• What is ArchivesUSA Online?
• Location of the print index
• Accessing ArchivesUSA
• Searching ArchivesUSA
• Refining your Search
• Displaying your results
• Starting a New Search
• Saving your results
• For more information

Connect to ArchivesUSA.

WHAT IS ARCHIVESUSA?

ArchivesUSA integrates three resources: 1) information on repository addresses (including e-mail and URLs) in The Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the US (DARMUS); 2) information gathered and compiled by the Library of Congress from the 1950s to the end of 1995, covering some 75,000 collections in The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC); 3) names and detailed subject indexing of over 42,000 collections whose finding aids have been published separately in the major microfiche series, National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States (NIDS). Researchers can search descriptions of manuscript collections in the United States and link to information about the repositories.

DARMUS

SML, Bibliography CD3020 +D49 1988 (LC) SML, Manuscripts and Archives CD3020 +D49 1988 (LC)

NUCMC

SML, Bibliography Z6620 U5 +N37 (LC) SML, Manuscripts and Archives Xx91 U2 +N21 DIVINITY, Special holdings Collections Z6620 U5 N3 (LC)

NIDS [CD-ROM]

SML,Microtext center

ArchivesUSA can be accessed from the computers located in the Sterling Memorial Library Nave, from all public terminals on campus, and from any Yale computer (including remote dial-up connections) with a web browser at the URL http://archives.chadwyck.com/.

1. CLICK on A from the alphabet list.
2. SCROLL down to ArchivesUSA.
3. CLICK on Connect to ArchivesUSA.

To Search by Repository

1. CLICK on Repository Search at the ArchivesUSA front page.
2. ENTER the search terms you want (e.g., name, city, state or keyword) and press enter.

To Search the Collections

1. CLICK on the Collection Search at the ArchivesUSA front page.
2. ENTER a combination of search terms (e.g., keywords, city, state, NIDS Fiche number, NUCMC number and collection date) in the blank text boxes.

If you wish, you can browse the database by just one of the search terms by clicking on the browse link to the right of a given field.

REFINING YOUR SEARCH

1. CLICK on the Refine Search link at the top or bottom of the page; this will take you back to your previous Collection Search.
2. REFINE the search terms and press the search button.

To Refine Using Boolean Operators

USE "AND", "OR", and "NOT" in capital letters to further refine within the text boxes.

examples:

Kennedy AND letters NOT Monroe
New York OR Connecticut

To Refine Using Truncation

ADD an asterisk (*) as a wild card at the end of a word to include variations on that word in your results.

example:archiv*

This will yield results for "archive," "archives," "archival," etc.

Note: When executing a truncated search, only the final word in a phrase can be truncated.

To Refine Using Proximity
This allows you to search for groupings of words in a document.

USE "NEAR" followed by a period (.) and how many number of words.
USE "FBY" (followed by) to search for documents with words in succession

example: McCarthy NEAR.4 communism
example: manifest FBY destiny

• CLICK on the word search after filling in a combination of search terms in the text boxes.
• CLICK on an individual listing's hyperlink to see only one result.
• CLICK once in the check boxes next to several listings to see more than one result, and then click on the record button.

If you find a record that includes a NIDS Fiche Number, you can examine the collection's Finding Aid on microfiche in the Microform Reading Room in the basement of SML.

1. WALK directly to the back of the room to a few feet in front of the service desk.
2. TURN RIGHT. The first two metal file cabinets you see contain the NIDS catalogue of microfiche.

STARTING A NEW SEARCH

CLICK on the Collection Search or Repository Search icon at the top or bottom of the record list screen.

• USE your brower's printing, downloading, and e-mailing capabilities, or
• SEE the handout at the Reference Desk about printing/downloading from Public Workstations.

• CLICK on the help icon from the top or bottom of a search screen while in ArchivesUSA.
• See the librarian at the Reference desk in the nave of Sterling Memorial Library.
• Call 432-1775 or 432-1780.
• Email smlref@yale.edu