The site includes both collection-level and item-level records.

  • Collection level records have a description of an overall collection or group of materials.
  • Item-level records are the specific items in a collection, and have a description and a digital version of the material.

Basic search in the top search box on any page - enter any keyword and search all fields

  • Alternatively, in the top search box, click the drop down arrow next to “All Fields” and choose any of the fields below to search, then add your search term and click enter

Field-based search - use to make your search more specific

  • In the top search box, click the drop down arrow next to “All Fields” and choose any of the following fields to search, then add your search term and click enter
  • Title - the main
  • Creator - person or organization that created a document - author, photographer, etc. Use when you know a name and only want to see things created by that person or organization
  • Subject - a term describing what a document is about. Use when you’re searching topics or research areas
  • Type - the kind of document you’re seeking, such as correspondence, text, image, or diary. Use when you only want to find textual materials, or only visual, etc.
  • Contributing institution
  • Transcription
  • Place/geographical location
  • Collection

Limiting by field gives you a more specific set of search results

  • After you’ve conducted a search you can choose fields from the left sidebar to narrow your search results. See above “Field-based” search for the fields you can use to filter your search results.

Note on harmful language:

Occasionally, you may come across language in our finding aids, catalog records, digitized collections, blog posts, exhibitions, or elsewhere that you find offensive or harmful. Please let us know by emailing inhor@pacscl.org.

Temple University's Special Collections Research Center has written an excellent explanation for why these terms sometimes appear in archival description.