A group of new online search tools has enhanced the search and discovery of historical records in the collections of the Archives. The improved access is the result of a two-year project to improve description of the Archives’ extensive holdings of regional manuscript material. The initiative was funded through a $167,600 grant from the National Historical Records and Publications Commission, a division of the National Archives and Records Administration.
During the project, Archives’ staff conducted a box-by-box survey of its entire collection, totaling more than 7,000 cubic feet and including personal papers, diaries, organizational records, business materials, mining company records, maps, newspapers and other historical documents. The project identified more than 700 discrete collections and created standardized descriptions, providing information about the size, content and dates of coverage for each collection. These descriptions have been revealed to potential researchers throughout the world via a number of online tools.
A full listing of the collections, including collection number, title and brief description, is now available on the Michigan Tech Archives blog. See Collections.
Catalog records for each collection are also available in the Van Pelt and Opie Library catalog. See Catalog.
Researchers may limit their searches by the location “Archives Manuscript Collection.” These records allow searching of collection names, keywords in their brief descriptions and histories, as well as standardized subject headings. Versions of these catalog records are also searchable through WorldCat, an international bibliographic database maintained by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), a global cooperative of libraries, archives and museums.
To search the main WorldCat catalog, see WorldCat.
As an OCLC member, Michigan Tech community members may also search these records through the FirstSearch version of WorldCat. See FirstSearch.
This allows researchers to limit type to “Archival Materials” and limit availability to library code “EZT” for Michigan Tech archival collection records. For further information, contact the Archives at 487-2505 or at copper@mtu.edu.
Published in Tech Today.