Managing Legacy Finding Aids

Older collections in the Archives Portal can be imported into ArchivesSpace for remediation and additions. Many older collections in the Archives Portal were created under different descriptive rules and standards, and will generally need to be revised to meet current practice.

The Senior Manager and Manager are responsible to all legacy EAD imports into ArchivesSpace, and will remediate the EAD prior to import. Archival Processing has developed a number of scripts đź”’ to support this process.

Once a collection is in ArchivesSpace, please review the following aspects of the finding aid:

Agents and Subjects

Agents and subjects rarely import from legacy EAD in a usable way, so tpyically these are not imported. Archivsts should manually add agentes and subjects to the finding aid. ArchivesSpace already has thousands of authorized agents and subjects that have been added by archivists. These are authorized with identifier numbers, and maintained by Archival Processing management with the assistance of the Metadata Services unit.

Identifiers

Make sure all identifiers are present and in the right place:

  • MSS ID: All collections have an MSS ID. This number can be found in SPEC and is the number in the finding aid url. This number goes in the <unitid type=”local_mss”> tag in the EAD and the “MSS Identifier” field in the “Basic Information” section of ASpace.

  • Call number: All collections have a call number. For MSS collections, Call numbers are assigned by divisions. The call number goes in the <unitid type=”local_call”> tag in the EAD and the “Call Number” field in the “Identifiers” section of ASpace.

  • Bnumber: The bnumber is the b + 8 digit number generated by Sierra and present in the URL of the catalog record. The bnumber goes in the <unitid type=”local_b”> tag in the EAD and the “bnumber” field in the “Identifiers” section of ASpace.

  • AMI ID: Every AMI item (audio or moving image recording) should have a 6-digit AMI ID. These IDS can be found in SPEC. They go in the “AMI Identifier” field in the “Identifiers” section of ASpace.

  • Electronic Record ID: Every electronic record should have an ER ID. This goes in the “Electronic Record Identifier” field in the “Identifiers” section of ASpace.

Dates

Legacy finding aids often have incorrectly formatted dates and/or use “undated” or “n.d.” Per DACS, dates should be formatted as YEAR (4 digits) MONTH (spelled out) DAY, for example “2025 August 29.” While the remediation scripts 🔒 will usually correct these, it is good practice to check the dates fields.

Component Levels

Make sure series, subseries, and files are correctly identified.

Extents

If collection-level and component-level extent statements were imported, review and update to ensure that they accurately reflect any changes made to the collection. If extent statements are present in the original finding aid but were not imported, enter the statements following the rules for Extents.

Containers

Provide detailed container information for existing components in the collection when available. Containers with the profile of Portal Box, Portal Tube, or Portal Volume should be updated with the correct Container Profile and barcode, if known. Keep in mind that the Extent Calculator will not provide an accurate linear footage for collections that were not originally processed in ArchivesSpace, if you do not correct the container profiles.

Publish All

Collections and components that are imported from the Archives Portal will usually be unpublished by default. Collections, and all of their child components, can be published all at once using the Publish All button at the top of the Resource screen.