wsalesky/XTF-RAC — Issue #41: New text for the collection guides main page; About Collection Guides and About Archival Material content should be pop-up links in the upper right corner
Author: beckyrobbins
Created: 2011-12-01 20:31:55+00:00
State: open

<<<>>>>The Rockefeller Archive Center Holdings

The Rockefeller Archive Center holdings encompass the records of the Rockefeller family and their wide-ranging philanthropic endeavors (including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Rockefeller University). Today, the Center's growing holdings include materials from numerous non-Rockefeller foundations and nonprofit organizations, making it a premier center for research on philanthropy and civil society. It is also a major repository for the personal papers of leaders of the philanthropic community, Nobel Prize laureates, and world-renowned investigators in science and medicine.

<<<>>>>Researchers should note that collection guides may not identify collections or portions of collections whose access or use is restricted. When a researcher requests an appointment to visit the Center, the Head of Processing or Head of Reference will verify that the desired materials are open and available for research.

<<<>>>>About Collection Guides

Collection guides are documents that describe and map archival material held at a particular institution. Researchers use collection guides to find and identify archival holdings that may be pertinent to their research.

Most collection guides include background information on the person or institution responsible for the creation of the records; a description of the contents, strengths, and weaknesses of the collection; as well as information on how the collection is arranged, how it has been managed, and how researchers can access and use it.

Collection guides are only pointers to archival material. They describe the collection and its arrangement, but rarely the individual items contained within it. In many cases it is only by examining a file that one can know its exact contents. Most archival material at the RAC is not digitized and must be consulted on site. Researchers are invited to schedule an appointment to examine our holdings.

<<<>>>>About Archival Materials

Archival holdings are generally comprised of original, unpublished material of enduring value created by a person, family, or organization. This material often includes primary source records and firsthand accounts of events and transactions. Archival material may include a variety of media or formats such as correspondence, memos, reports, bound diaries, scrapbooks, maps, blueprints, photographic negatives and prints, films, VHS or audio tapes, or electronic records.