Kheel Center: Finding Resources: Searching Finding Aids

Explore the finding aids for archival materials held in different Cornell repositories, including the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives; and the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine.

In the finding aid for each item, you can click on a link to request the material for in-person viewing at its designated reading room location. Please note that requests must be made in advance and there are different policies, locations, and hours of operation for each repository.

Using the main search box, enter words or phrases. Refine your search by using the appropriate dropdown box to limit by type of record (all records, collections, digital materials), finding aid field (title, creator, notes, identifier), or date. 

• Keyword – searches the entire text of the finding aid
• Title – searches title fields for collections, folders, digital objects, etc.
• Creator – searches for the creator of an archival collection. Please note that limiting by "Creator" will search only for creators connected at the collection level, not individual records or items within collections
• Subject – searches the subjects assigned to an archival collection
• Notes – searches all of the notes fields used to describe archival collections
• Identifier – searches the collection number (unique identifier) field

“From year” and “To year”

• Limit the date range of materials returned in your search. Searching by date is approximate, and results may fall outside the date span you enter.

For more complex searches, click on the + button next to the Years fields in the main search bar to add additional search terms and limits.

Changing the search operator can help refine these more complex searches.

• AND includes both terms: e.g. Martin Luther King Jr. AND Speech
• OR includes either term: e.g. Martin Luther King Jr. OR MLK
• NOT excludes the term following the operator: e.g. "Ezra Cornell" NOT Hotel to exclude results from the Hotel Ezra Cornell

Use quotation marks to search for terms as a phrase rather than individual keywords. In the example above, "Ezra Cornell" will return results where the words 'Ezra' and 'Cornell' appear alongside one another and exclude results where they might appear separately, e.g. the Edmund Ezra Day papers

The results of a search will appear in a list. Search results are weighted so Collections (which feature a red  box icon) appear before component items, Files (which feature a green page icon).

The search results for Collections feature the collection title, the name of the holding repository, an alphanumeric identifier, and a brief overview of the collection contents. 

The search results for Files feature the item title, the holding repository, the name of the overarching collecting, an alphanumeric identifier, and a note on the scope and contents of the item. 

Clicking on a Collection-level search result will send you to a Collection Overview page.

The filter pane on the right side of the page allows you to further limit and customize search results.

Because search results are weighted so Collections appear before component Files, it can be helpful narrow results to only individual archival objects (Files) using the filter under Type.

NOTE: Subject and Name headings have not been employed consistently over time or across repositories; therefore, these facets may not be the most accurate indicator of available content. Conducting a keyword search with relevant terms may yield more accurate results.

After performing a search, the first choice under Additional Filters on the right side of the screen will be Repository. Click on your repository of choice, e.g. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives, and the results will include only collections and items from that repository.

Each search result will also indicate which repository holds the collection at the bottom of the box. Each repository has its own reading room, hours, and policies for providing access to its collections, so it is important to note the location of a collection or item.

Selecting a Collection from your search results will bring you to the finding aid for that collection. 

In the upper left portion of the Collection Overview page, you'll see the Collection Identifier and Title. Further down the screen you can find the dates of the collection, its extent (or size in number of boxes), restriction notes, and expandable options to display scope and contents, biographical and historical notes, additional description, and repository information. 

The separate panel on the right shows the series or items found in the Collection; series can be expanded to show subseries or folder titles. 

The search results by default link to a Collection's Collection Overview; however, there are two additional interfaces for exploring the contents of a Collection.  

Collection Organization displays a scrollable list of the items found in the Collection. The list displays the title of each individual File, its box and folder location, and any scope and contents notes or dates. 

Container Inventory lists the boxes in the Collection. Clicking on a box number directs you to a list of folders in that box. This interface is particularly useful if you know the box and folder numbers for an item, but not the title.

You can also search for items within a Collection using the Search Collection box on the right-hand column of the Collection Overview page.

The results will only show components (series, boxes, folders, items) in that collection. Search Collection will ONLY search the Collection Organization, not introductory content such as the Scope and Contents and Biographical/Historical Note.

Your search results may sometimes direct you to a specific File. To understand that item better, look at the directory information that tells you the collection, series, and box for your search result.

In the example below, the File is in Box 550, Folder 2 of Collection 8094 in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. To request this item, click the Request button in the upper-right corner of the page.

In the upper-right corner of the Collection Overview, Collection Organization and Container Inventory pages, you will see three buttons.

• Citation generates a general reference for the component you are viewing, which may be at the collection-, series-, or component-level. Persistent identifiers for collections are located in the citation information. 
• Print generates a PDF version of the finding aid that can be saved or emailed for later reference.
• Ask a Question links to a form for directly contacting the repository that houses the collection you are viewing.