Collections

The Bancroft Collection
Western Americana
Latin Americana
History of Science & Technology
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life
Mark Twain Papers & Project
Pictorial Collection
Rare Book Collections
Regional Oral History Office
Tebtunis Papyri (APIS)
University Archives

Digital Collections

Digital Images & Texts
Collection Finding Aids
Manuscript & Archival Finding Aids
University Archives Finding Aids
ArchivesGrid (UCB access only)

Themed Collections
CalHeritage Collection
California Cultures
California Loyalty Oath
Cased Photographs
Catalonian Manuscripts
Chinese in California
City Arts & Lectures
Digital Scriptorium
Disability Rights Movement
Earthquake & Fire
Free Speech Movement
Garff Wilson's A Christmas Carol
Gay Bears
Honeyman Collection of Western Art
Italian Americans in California
Japanese American Relocation
Land Case Maps
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Archives
Oroville Chinese Temple
PhiloBiblon
Rock Art Studies
Shig Murao
UCB Sunsite
UC History Digital Archives

The Bancroft Library Finding Aids are part of the Online Archive of California. This digital collection provides online access to a selected group of Bancroft Library finding aids.

View manuscript and archival finding aids:
http://oac.cdlib.org/institutions/UC+Berkeley::Bancroft+Library

View University Archives finding aids:
http://oac.cdlib.org/institutions/UC+Berkeley::University+Archives

Bancroft finding aids as well other finding aids from historical repositories around the country are available in a union database known as ArchiveGrid* which is supported by OCLC.

View manuscript and archival finding aids at ArchiveGrid*:
http://archivegrid.org/web/index.jsp

* ArchiveGrid is licensed for use at UC Berkeley. The database is only accessible from public workstations in a UC Berkeley library, and remotely to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff. For remote access information, see Connecting from Off Campus.

About Finding Aids
Finding aids are inventories, registers, indexes, or guides to collections held by archives and manuscript repositories, libraries, and museums. Finding aids provide detailed descriptions of collections, their intellectual organization and, at varying levels of analysis, of individual items in the collections. Access to the finding aid is essential for understanding the true content of a collection and for determining whether it is likely to satisfy a scholar's research needs. For a detailed description on how to use primary source materials and their associated finding aids, please consult Library Research Using Primary Sources.

While the finding aids may vary somewhat in style, their common purpose is to provide detailed description of the content and intellectual organization of collections. A typical finding aid contains brief biographical information on the individuals and organizations responsible for the creation of the records in question and descriptive information on the topics, people, and events documented by the correspondence, reports, writings, photographs, and other materials found in collections. Finding aids may also contain important information regarding limitations on access to all or portions of the collection, copyright and publication restrictions, and other issues regarding the use, reproduction, and reformatting of the collection. Finding aids also contain lists of the physical contents of collections. A list may range from a brief description of the entire contents of a box or carton to a detailed listing of itemized folders in each box or carton.

Access to finding aids through the Internet assists researchers in determining whether collections contain material relevant to their research.