Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version 2002

EAD Elements

<physdesc> Physical Description

Description:

A wrapper element for bundling information about the appearance or construction of the described materials, such as their dimensions, a count of their quantity or statement about the space they occupy, and terms describing their genre, form, or function, as well as any other aspects of their appearance, such as color, substance, style, and technique or method of creation. The information may be presented as plain text, or it may be divided into the <dimension>, <extent>, <genreform>, and <physfacet> subelements.

The <physdesc> element is comparable to ISAD(G) data element 3.1.5 and MARC field 300.

May contain:

#PCDATA, abbr, archref, bibref, corpname, date, dimensions, emph, expan, extent, extptr, extref, famname, function, genreform, geogname, lb, linkgrp, name, occupation, persname, physfacet, ptr, ref, subject, title

May occur within:

archref, did

Attributes:

Examples:

    1.
        <c01 level="series">
            <did>
                <unittitle>Seizure Records, </unittitle>
                <unitdate>December 1908-January 1928.</unitdate>
                <physdesc>4 volumes and 1 folder.</physdesc>
            </did>
        </c01>

    2.
        <c level="subseries">
            <did>
                <unittitle>Documentary Movies, </unittitle>
                <unitdate type="inclusive">1952-1964</unitdate>
                <physdesc><extent>2.5 linear ft.</extent></physdesc>
            </did>
        </c>