ETHNC 5900 Methodology: Finding Digitized Archival Materials

Archival collections may be comprised of thousands of individual documents. As archivists process collections, they create finding aids to record how the collection is organized and what it contains. A finding aid often includes biographical and historical information about the donor and/or topic of the collection as well as a listing of the contents at the box, folder, and item level. The Marriott Library's finding aids are kept in a repository called ArchivesWest and can also be found in the library catalog. In both ArchivesWest  and the catalog, searching for a topic will locate entire collections, and you may have to look through the box and folder listing to find the specific items relevant to your research.

The Marriott Library has digitized both entire collections and portions of collections and added them to the Digital Library. Searching in the Digital Library will locate individual items matching your search terms.

This LibGuide contains links to both the finding aids and digitized content of archival collections, arranged by the ethnic and/or cultural group represented in the collection. You may wish to consult additional archival collections, library materials, or other resources to find contextual and background information about your research topic. Remember that not all search engines work like Google! While the library catalog is powered by a controlled vocabulary that will search for synonyms and alternate phrasings (for example, Black Americans and African Americans), the Digital Library and ArchivesWest require much more precision. If you would like assistance finding resources not included in this LibGuide, please ask one of the subject librarians listed on the Introduction page.