Finding aids and indexes to collections of manuscript and archival material

At Yale

Archival Finding Aid Project

Beinecke Library Finding Aids

Ilardi Microfilm Collection: Renaissance Diplomatic Documents ca.1450--ca.1500 (Yale University)

In Principio Incipit: Incipit Index Of Latin Texts

Index to House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

National Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS)

World Lists

Archives and Manuscript Collections on the Internet (Columbia University)

Repositories of Primary Sources (University of Idaho)

UNESCO Archives Portal

Regional Lists

Europe

• Archive in Europa (Archivschule Marburg)
• Historical Archives of the European Communities

France

• Les centres de ressources documentaires

Germany

• Archives in Germany (Andreas Hanacek)
• Bundesarchiv
• Deutsche Archive im Internet (Archivschule Marburg)

Ireland

• The National Archives of Ireland

Italy

• Archivi Italiani in Rete
• ARCHIVI: Sistema Archivistico Nazionale (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali)

United Kingdom

• The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
• Public Record Office: The National Archives for England, Wales and the United Kingdom
• Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
• UK Archival Repositories on the Internet

Archival Finding Aid Project (Yale University Library)

Connect to Archival Finding Aid Project

The Yale University Library EAD (Encoded Archival Description) Finding Aid Project provides access to archival finding aids in a platform-independent electronic format, using SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language). Finding aids are inventories, registers, indexes, or guides that are created by archival and manuscript repositories to provide information about specific collections. They usually consist of a biographical or historical note, a description of the papers, and a list of box and folder titles. Some finding aids include appendices with ancillary information, while others only list manuscripts with an item by item description. While the finding aids created by repositories may vary somewhat in style, their common purpose is to provide detailed description of the content and intellectual organization of collections. Access to finding aids through the Internet will assist scholars in determining whether collections contain material relevant to their research.

Archives and Manuscript Collections on the Internet

Connect to Archives and Manuscript Collections on the Internet

This guide provides access to information about the archives and manuscript holdings of more than 100 repositories. Some institutions have made detailed finding aids available, which may be searched by name or topic, while others provide only general descriptions of their holdings and hours.

These lists are intended to allow direct access to finding aids for Beinecke collections indexed in the Yale Archival Finding Aid Project site.

Begun in 1959, the collection now includes most if not all significant unpublished collections of diplomatic documents and related papers for the second half of the fifteenth century held in western European archives and libraries. The entire collection now consists of 1856 reels and 179 photocopies, reproducing approximately two million documents.

The incipit collection of the Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, now comprising some 400,000 records, allows scholars to identify Latin manuscripts, and compile an inventory of the appearance of individual texts in manuscript form. This database provides powerful search capabilities not only for the previously published incipit collection, but for the approximately 10% documentation published for the first time on this CD-ROM.

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

Index to Great Britan's House of Commons parliamentary papers (SML Microform Fiche S84). Covers 1801-1994/95.

SML, Microtext Center, CD-ROM

An index to the two following microfiche collections which consist of finding aids, card catalogs, and indexes to individual collections of manuscripts, archives, and other primary source material in repositories of the U.S. and Great Britain.

* National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United Kingdom and Ireland: the Public Record Office Registers and Indexes (Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1988- )

SML, Microform Room FICHE B2262

* National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States (Teaneck, NJ: Chadwyck-Healey, 1983-)

SML, Microfom Room FICHE B1333

Connect to Repositories of Primary Sources

A listing of over 1100 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar.

Connect to Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts online

The homepage for the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts includes useful information for researchers and archivists. This site includes the National Register of Archives, a computerised database of information on the nature and locations of manuscript sources for British history.

UNESCO Archives Portal

Maintained by UNESCO's Communication, Information, and Informatics Sector (CII). Provides links to specific archives around the world.