Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version 2002

EAD Elements

<archdesc> Archival Description

Description:

A wrapper element for the bulk of an EAD document instance, which describes the content, context, and extent of a body of archival materials, including administrative and supplemental information that facilitates use of the materials. Information is organized in unfolding, hierarchical levels that allow for a descriptive overview of the whole to be followed by more detailed views of the parts, designated by the element Description of Subordinate Components <dsc>. Data elements available at the <archdesc> level are repeated at the various component levels within <dsc>, and information is inherited from one hierarchical level to the next.

The Descriptive Identification <did> element is required to appear in <archdesc> before presenting more detailed descriptions in <bioghist>, <scopecontent>, and <dsc>, in order to provide first a basic description of the archival materials.

The <archdesc> element has several specialized attributes. The required LEVEL attribute identifies the character of the whole unit, for example, "class," "collection," "fonds," "recordgrp," "series," "subfonds," "subgrp," "subseries," or "otherlevel." This attribute is comparable to ISAD(G) data element 3.1.4 and MARC field 351 subfield c.

The TYPE attribute can be used to categorize the finding aid as an inventory, register, or other format.

May contain:

accessrestrict, accruals, acqinfo, altformavail, appraisal, arrangement, bibliography, bioghist, controlaccess, custodhist, dao, daogrp, descgrp, did, dsc, fileplan, index, note, odd, originalsloc, otherfindaid, phystech, prefercite, processinfo, relatedmaterial, runner, scopecontent, separatedmaterial, userestrict

May occur within:

ead

Attributes:

Example:

See fully encoded examples in Appendix C.