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Help with Guide Entries

Guide entries contain the most general descriptions of our collections. Each guide entry gives the title of the collection, a general characterization of it with the span of dates for the documents in it, an indication of its extent, a note about restrictions, a biographical or historical note, a paragraph of description indication what the collection contains, and the collection codes associated with it.

Guide entries use linear measure to indicate extent of each collection. Linear measure simply indicates how much shelf space a collection takes up. If a collection amounts to five linear inches, it fills a box that is five inches deep; the other dimensions of the box generally accomodate letter-size or legal-size paper (roughly 12" by 10" or 15" by 10"). It is sometimes useful to imagine how many filing cabinets larger collections would fill. If a file drawer holds about two linear feet of documents, then a collection that extends to 160 linear feet would fill 80 file drawers or 20 four-drawer filing cabinets.

If more detailed inventories exist, the collection codes at the end of each Guide entry serve as links to them. Each entry also has a link to the previous entry in the Guide (<<) and to the next entry in the Guide (>>) and a text entry box that you can use to search our index (type in key words and press Enter).


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