Arrangement & Description

Accession

N. The materials physically and officially transferred to a repository as a unit at a single time, AND/OR an acquisition.

V. To take intellectual and physical custody of materials, often under legal or policy authority.

Note: An accession, as noted in the second noun sense, is always an acquisition. That sense is more frequently used in the spoken lexicon than in the written lexicon. 

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Arrangement

The process of organizing materials with respect to their provenance and original order, to protect their context and to achieve physical or intellectual control over the materials; AND/OR, the organization and sequence of items within a collection. 

Note: Arrangement with respect to original order presumes such an order is discernable. Archivists may arrange such materials in a way that facilitates their use and management without violation of any archival principle. 

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Description

A set of data crafted to identify and represent an archival resource or component thereof; AND/OR the process of creating a set of data representing an archival resource or component thereof.

Note: Descriptions are frequently expressed in finding aids and bibliographic records. They are used for discovery and management of archival resources. Descriptions often detail physical characteristics, informational content, and functional purpose. The process of describing archival resources can include analyzing, organizing, and recording details about the formal elements of a record or collection of records, such as creator, title, dates, extent, and contents, to facilitate the work’s identification, management, and understanding.

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Intellectual Control

The establishment and maintenance of documentation that describes and accommodates access to the informational content of archival resources.

Note: This archival function occurs during accessioning and processing with the intent to help staff and researchers locate relevant archival resources, and it can incorporate information tools developed by the creator or repository staff. Additionally, intellectual control includes descriptive efforts that point to where the content should be stored. Distinct from this, physical control ensures that archival resources are stored where descriptions indicate. 

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Level of Arrangement

The position of an aggregation of archival records within a hierarchy of arrangement; AND/OR the degree of completeness to which archival records have been prepared for use. 

Note: Traditional levels of arrangement are repository, record group, fonds, collection, subgroups, series, subseries, file, and item. 

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Level of Description

The level of arrangement of the unit being described; AND/OR the completeness or exhaustiveness of the description.

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Original Order

The organization and sequence of records established by the creator of the records.

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Physical Control

The establishment and tracking of the location of holdings in a repository’s custody.

Note: This archival function often occurs as part of accessioning or processing. Physical control ensures that archival resources are stored where descriptions indicate. Intellectual control includes descriptive efforts to identify potentially relevant materials and point to where those materials should be stored. Sometimes the pointers are absolute, indicating a specific box on a specific shelf in a specific room. In other cases, the pointers may be relative, directing users to a collection and box number that are positioned within a range of similar numbers. 

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Processing

The act of preparing archival materials for use; AND/OR the steps taken to make the latent image on exposed photographic film visible.

This definition and note comes from SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology. For further information or to view the entry, please click here. 

Provenance

The origin or source of something; AND/OR information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection.

Provenance is a fundamental principle of archives, referring to the individual, family, or organization that created or receieved the items in a collection. The principle of provenance or respect des fond dictates that records of different origins (provenance) be kept separate to preserve their context.