Introduction to Online Finding Aids and EAD

Since 1984, the North Carolina State Archives has made most of its collections searchable through the MARS (Manuscript and Archives Records System) catalog, at least to the collection and series level. Although it is primarily used to locate and retrieve records, MARS also provides researchers with information concerning the organization of collections and the ability to search those collections using controlled vocabulary. In recent years, Encoded Archival Description (EAD) has emerged as the recognized standard for encoding archival finding aids and making them available on the Internet. Professional organizations such as the Society for American Archivists (SAA), the Library of Congress (LC), Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG), and NCEAD have led the way in providing standards and resources for institutions interested in applying EAD to their finding aids.

Currently, the North Carolina State Archives is creating EAD documents for private collections, photographic collections, and select organization and state agency records. These finding aids enhance the descriptions found in MARS, particularly for those collections that have been described only to the collection level. There are plans to incorporate the EAD documents into the MARS database, but until that time, completed finding aids are available through these web pages and are separated by the type of materials they described and then arranged alphabetically.

Note: The finding aids listed on our EAD pages must be viewed with Internet Explorer 5 or above.

We are experiencing some technical issues with some of our EAD finding aids. If a finding aid should close when you try to open it, please open it a second time; after open the finding aid a second time, you should experience no further problems viewing finding aids for the duration of your browser session. Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this issue.

Last Modified: 11/06/2009