Research Guides: HIST 333: History and Fiction (HC): Using Special Collections

Quaker & Special Collections

Quaker & Special Collections is Haverford's repository for rare books and manuscripts, and home to many primary sources. It has particular strengths in the history of the mid-Atlantic, abolition, and Quaker life and practice.

Reading and Understanding a Finding Aid

A finding aid serves as both the table of contents and index of a manuscript collection. It will help you determine whether the collecion has material of interest to you, and, if so, where that material is located.

Using Finding Aids
A guide to using finding aids from San Diego State University, with a nice introduction to the types of information you will find in each section of the finding aid.
About Finding Aids
This guide to archives in Chicago provides an overview of what a finding aid is.
How do archivists organize collections?
This blog post from the Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives discusses how and why archivists organize materials the way they do.
Finding Your Way Through Finding Aids: Archives 101
This excellent guide from Dorothy Berry at Harvard University provides information on what a finding aid is, what's in it and what is not, and how to read a finding aid. Although some things are Harvard-specific, many are general (Harvard also uses the same catalog and finding aid system as the TriCo).

Evaluating Primary Sources

As you work with your primary sources, keep in mind the following questions and ideas to help you evaluate these sources:

Creator - Who created this document, and why? What is the creator's relationship to the events they are relating?

Audience - What was the original audience for this document?

What is Missing - What gaps are there in the document? What information does not appear? Why do you think this might be?

Collection Context - What other materials are found around the document within the manuscript collection? How does the document fit into the story of the person, family, or organization that the collection is telling? Is the document typical or atypical of the collection?

Historical Context - When was the document created? What else is happening during the creation of this document? How might that influence the document?

Materiality - Think about the material nature of the document (paper, handwriting, length, size, etc.). How does this influence the way you read the document? What does it tell you about the creator and/or audience? What other evidence can you gain from the physical object that you might not find in a digital version?