Searching for Manuscript and Archival Material in the Five College Catalog

Descriptions of most of our collections are in the Five College online catalog. They provide a brief overview of each collection and are searchable by name, subject, or keyword. Note that many of our records in the online catalog include links to a more detailed inventory (finding aid) available in the Five College Archives and Manuscripts online database (available soon). If the finding aid is not online, you may obtain a print version from the Archives & Special Collections (Level A, Frost; email form ); an additional set of finding aids is also available in the Frost Library Reference Department (Level 1, Frost; e-mail form).

Search Tips

• Author search:

  The author of a collection is the name of the creator of the collection, whether an individual, family, or organization (example: Enter Hitchcock, Edward as author for the Edward Hitchcock Papers).

• Author/Title search:

  You can narrow your search by using the Author/Title search and entering the appropriate term as the title (example: Hitchcock/Papers). The most common terms used in the titles of archival and manuscript collections are:

Papers - for personal papers of individuals or families
Records - for official records of institutions and organizations
Collection - materials brought together under a common subject

• Use Subject to search for topics, personal names, organizational names, or place names represented in collections.

  A Subject search will only search the Library of Congress subject headings listed in the catalog record (example: Missionaries -- Lebanon). It is more likely to pinpoint those collections that are pertinent to your topic as these are specific terms selected to highlight the most significant topics relevant to the collection.

• Keyword will also allow you to search for topics, personal names, organizational names, or place names represented in collections. It searches all text fields including descriptive notes. Generally, a Keyword search will yield more results than a Subject search; however, a Keyword search may not always produce satisfactory results, as it is a more general search.
  
  One advantage of a Keyword search is that you can limit your search to "Archival Material" and "Location" on the initial search form. (For other kinds of searches, limiting can only be done after the initial results are returned. See "Limiting your Search to Archival Material" below.)
  
  
• Use Genre to search for particular types of documents. The most commonly used genres in archival and manuscript collections are:

Letters
Diaries
Photographs
Scrapbooks

Note that Genre terms are not always used by all of the Five College archives.

• Limiting Your Search to Archival Material:

  Once your search results are displayed, click "Limit/sort" at the top of the screen and select: "Archival material."
  
  (For more information on this limit, see also the section on Keyword searching, above.)

• Limiting Your Search by Institution:

  Once your search results are displayed, click "Limit/sort" at the top of the screen and under "WHERE Item is located" select: "Amherst."

If you don't find what you're looking for, that doesn't necessarily mean we don't have it!
Ask a Reference Librarian or Archivist for assistance or contact us via email at: archives

Comments regarding this page may be directed to archives. © 2003, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 01002-5000. All rights reserved. No part of this page may be reproduced without the written consent of Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.

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