About finding aids
Finding aids are inventories, registers, indexes, or guides to archival collections. Finding aids provide detailed descriptions of collections, their intellectual organization, and individual items or groups of items in collections.
Because these collections are often voluminous and contain unique materials, finding aids are generally available to help researchers to determine the contents of archival collections. They often include biographical or historical notes about the creator, scope and content notes about what is in a collection, and container listings. When digitized material from archival collections is available, it is linked within the finding aid listing, or you can search the same archival digital collections directly in Calisphere.
The Bancroft Library’s finding aids
The Bancroft Library’s finding aids are part of the Online Archive of California (OAC). If an online version of the finding aid exists, you will see a link to it in the links section of the UC Library Search catalog record. Print copies of finding aids are also kept in the Heller Reading Room.
The Bancroft Library has integrated Aeon into our online finding aids on the OAC. We highly recommend searching for and paging our materials through this system to ensure accuracy and efficiency. If you wish to request specific boxes or containers in a manuscript collection, click the "Request items" link at the top of the guide to initiate your request. You will be prompted to login to Aeon, where you can specify containers, folders, or items, and then submit your request. For more information, please see this Aeon guide.
View Bancroft Library finding aids.
View University Archives finding aids.
Guide to using primary sources
For a detailed description on how to use primary source materials and their associated finding aids, please consult the Library Research Using Primary Sources guide.
ArchiveGrid
Bancroft finding aids, as well as finding aids from other archival repositories around the country, are available in a union database known as ArchiveGrid.