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A finding aid conveys useful information about an individual collection, including an inventory of the series, containers, and folders; and typically describes the size, media types, organization and arrangement. They place archival resources in context by consolidating details about the collection, such as acquisition, processing histories, provenance, and descriptions of scope. Finding aids are rarely item indexes.
Most finding aids for Manuscript Division collections are available online. It is important to note that not all Manuscript Division collections have finding aids, and not all finding aids are available online.