chiveGrid? What is Ar
Welcome researchers in archives and academic libraries and genealogy! Here is a catalog of more than a million archival collection descriptions. ArchiveGrid makes information on primary sources from family records, historical documents, and personal papers [including photographs, moving images, and audio] available to you. Contributed by thousands of archival institutions from all over the globe. Through this directory you can: receive contact information for each archival institution view further information about what items are in their repository. arrange a visit request copies or more information
ArchiveGrid is a Beta version currently provided by OCLC Research, a group dedicated to helping libraries and archives in a fast paced, changing world of information technology. Due to the nature of the Betaversion, items are changed or updated often. It is possible to nd out about these updates by reading the ArchiveGrid Blog.
Stay up to date with ArchiveGrid: Use the ArchiveGrid Blog wi dget at the top righthand corner of the homp age to read about new website changes
The homepage also lists any new collections added to the database.
Science, Technology Society, Culture Transportation, Travel War, Military Womens History
1. Browse by topic
Grid Archive ique un offers 3 ptions. search o these of Try any 3!
Searching
ArchiveGrid has 3 different ways of searching. Each search is designed for different types of searching methods.
The Browse Topic search can be found on the homepage. It consists of Topics with Subtopics. Simply click on the topic or subtopic to begin your search.
1.
Browse by topics - Allows for a broad base search of primary sources that are related to a pre-designated topic, and/or subtopic Archive Location - Allows you to use a map application for nding the location of archival institutions Query Search - Allows for your specic searches of key phrases and/or names
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Look for the colored sticky notes [like the one above] to learn what method is bes t for certain types of searches.
A Browse Topics sear ch is a great o ption if yo u are curious ab out what collections exist pertaining to a broad topic of interest
1. Browse by topic
If you are just beginning research on Culture and Clothing but want to make sure there are primary sources available, then by clicking Society, Cultures subtopic Clothing and dress you can see how many primary sources are available on this topic: 985 sources
2. Archive Location
The Archive Locator is also on the homepage and comes up in Google Map format. It is a great way for nding what primary sources live near you or anywhere else on the globe!
Some Neat Things: There are two ways to display your results Result List or Result Overview Result List gives all the results in List format with most relevant appearing rst (a bit of a grueling task to go through) Result Overview breaks the results into nice & neat categories
Narrow by categories are: Person Group Place Archive Archive Location Topic
& uick or a q ontact his f Use t arch of c se easy ation, or ation m infor ion inform ival t h collec pecic arc s for a tion tu insti
2. Archive Location
The Archive Locator Search is easy to use and allows for quick results. Simply use the search box below to enter in your criteria. When you have a result, click on a locator tab to get quick access to contact information or to search within that institutions collections.
The Basic Query search is also found on the homepage. It allows for different ways of rening your search in order to retrieve the best results.
Use any one the special search commands for your specic search needs
The different query search me thods: Multiple Words Word Variations Find A Phrase Proximity Exclusion Alternate Words Increased Term Relevance Sophisticated Search
By reading the notes [like this one] you can learn which method is best for certain types of inquiries!
Multiple Words: You can enter one or more words [i.e. paris hemingway tzgerald]. The results will have all words included in the description. The above example: Say you are hoping
to nd letters between Ernst Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald while they were in Paris. You may want to try the Multiple Words search, using the line of words shown for the best results.
Proximity Search: You can indicate how close or far away you want your search terms to appear together in the description by this format: zelda tzgerald~2 [Meaning: zelda + tzgerald can only be 2 words apart from each other in the descriptions retrieved]
The above example: Proximity search works well for searching specic people. Here, we are looking for primary sources pertaining to Zelda Fitzgerald, but since she has a middle name and her maiden name, Sayre, which also might be on documents along with Fitzgerald, you might nd this method offers the best results.
Find A Phrase: You can enter a certain phrase you want to nd in a description by using .. [i.e. the lost generation]
The above example: We might be looking for documentaries, papers, articles etc. that pertain to a particular period, or group of people. By searching the key phrase, here I want to nd anything I can about The Lost Generation of the 1920s, this exact phrase will show up in the results. [With this example I was able to nd an A & E documentary recording about The Lost Generation]
Exclusion Search: To help narrow down results use NOT after your search term followed by what you wish to be excluded from the results. [i.e. Im looking for gangsters but I dont want my results to include anything with Al Capone]
The above example: This search is great either for clarifying your search, or helping you nd rare material that might not come up right away. Al Capone was one of the most famous gangsters of the 1920s, but if we want to nd obscurer gangsters as our top hits, we can use this search method.
Word Variations: By using wildcard characters [* or ?] your search can nd different forms of the word you are searching.
The example above: The wildcard character ? allows for just 1 extra letter to be added to the term. When we search apper? both apper and appers can be found in the results. You can use the astrix * to allow for more than 1 letter. For example: dance* could result with dancing, dances, danced etc. This is a great method if your search term could have multiple endings [like most nouns an verbs!] but still be relevant to your needs.
Increased Term Relevance: With this method, we can adjust the ordering of results to prioritize those containing the term. To increase the relevance of a term in a phrase, you can use , followed by ^ and the desired relevance [must be greater than 1] [i.e. beersman^2 ]. The greater the number, the greater the importance.
The example above: For my search, I wanted to nd sources dealing with the main architect of the Chicago Wrigley Building built in the 1920s, Charles Beersman. Say we want to have results that prioritize Beersmans direct inuence on the Wrigley Building. By performing the search above, we are able receive results more inline with what we want. This is helpful when one term is more important to you than the others in your search.
Alternate Words: You can use the operator OR with your search terms to obtain results that have either term in the description.
The example above: The OR operator is a helpful tool when you need a broader, more inclusive scope from the AND operator, multiple words or phrase. Here, we are looking for results pertaining to either Dadaism or Surrealism to aide in comparing and contrasting these two schools of thought of the 1920s.
Sophisticated Search: Now that weve learned all the different methods of query searching, we can combine them using parentheses to group terms as necessary for your search. [i.e. I am searching for anything pertaining to World War I that is either U.S. or France related using Alternate Words, along with the AND operator.]
The example above: This type of search is useful for narrowing down results. You wanted to nd information on World War I, but you wanted the information to be specically including the U.S. or France. This search will give the best results.