Collections

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

Digital Collections

Bancroft Library Finding Aids
Manuscript & Archival Finding Aids
University Archives Finding Aids
CalHeritage Collection
California Cultures
California Loyalty Oath Digital
Collection
Cased Photographs
Catalonian Manuscripts
Chinese in California
Digital Scriptorium
Disability Rights Movement
Earthquake and Fire Digital Collection
Free Speech Movement
History of Science and Technology
Sources
Honeyman Collection of Western Art
Italian Americans in California
Japanese American Relocation Digital
Archive (JARDA)
Land Case Maps
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Archives
Online Archive of California
Oroville Chinese Temple
Rock Art Studies
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/ark:/13030/tf7r29p8s0

View University Archives finding aids:
http://oac.cdlib.org/institutions/ark:/13030/tf6x0nb9j5

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.