Subject Browsing in the FAD

By now, you’re familiar with the Finding Aid Database, our one-stop shop for all things archival. The Finding Aid Database allows researchers to keyword search all 250 of our finding aids in Special Collections and University Archives, and see any keyword hits within their full context. The keyword search searches all portions of each finding aid, including biographical and historical matter, scope and content notes, and folder title lists.

But did you know there is a “Browse” feature in the Finding Aid Database? If you’re just starting a research project and want to get an idea of our collection strengths, or if you’d like to find out what collections we have that correspond to specific interests of yours, try using the Subject Browse. You can find this tab in the upper right corner of the main home page. Each archival collection is assigned subjects according to the Library of Congress Subject Headings when it is processed, just like a book in the library’s catalog. This list of subjects might reveal some surprises as you browse—which collection(s) deal with African-American clergy, or Anti-feminism, or Agricultural economy? And that’s just the A’s! The subject browse is a very useful way to get to know our collections. Try it and find some surprises in your subject area.