MSS Unit ID

Required if Applicable

Collection-level identifier for an archival collection in the Archives Portal

Table of Contents

  1. Source
  2. Guidelines
  3. Format
  4. Inheritance
  5. Use With
  6. See Also

Source

Guidelines

  • The MSS Unit ID is automatically populated into records when importing finding aids
  • If adding a MSS Unit ID manually for a collection or standalone item, it can be located with the following methods:
    • In the Archives Portal, the MSS Unit ID is the numeric slug of the URL, e.g., https://archives.nypl.org/the/21738
    • In the Archives Portal, the MSS Unit ID can also be found by viewing the XML for a finding aid
    • The MSS Unit ID can be found within the <unitid> tag for a finding aid component that has the collection level attribute, e.g., <archdesc level="collection"><did><unittitle>Avery Willard photographs</unittitle><unitdate type="inclusive" normal="1919/1993">1919-1993</unitdate><unitdate type="bulk" normal="1940/1970">1940-1970</unitdate><unitid type="local_call">*T-Vim 1999-026</unitid><unitid type="local_mss">21738</unitid>
    • In the Archives Portal Admin Interface, the MSS Unit ID can be found as the value of the identifier (local_mss) field in records with /collections/ in the URL (see example)

Format

Preferred structure
unique numeric identifier
Example
61310

Inheritance

  • Set MSS Unit IDs added to collections to be Inheritable

Use With

  • NYPL catalog ID (B-number), which is automatically imported into the collection or standalone item record when importing either an EAD-encoded or PDF finding aid
  • Archives Collections ID, which is automatically imported into the collection or standalone item record when importing an EAD-encoded finding aid

See Also