Henry George Thode
Henry George Thode (1910-1997) was a professor of Chemistry and President and Vice Chancellor of McMaster University from 1961 to 1972. He was instrumental in developing McMaster's nuclear reactor. The H.G. Thode Library of Science & Engineering is named in his honour.
Introduction
Reading A Finding Aid
Guide to the elements in an archival finding aid
CLICK ON THE SIDE ARROWS TO SCROLL THROUGH THE SLIDES
Title: This usually identifies the creator of the archives -- the individual or organization responsible for the creation or collection of the records. For a collection, the title refers to the subject or idea that connects all of the material within it.
Level of Description: Look at this element to learn whether the archives being described is a 'fonds' or a 'collection.' You may also read finding aids which include the level of description when describing series, files, and/or items.
Dates: This indicates the time period covered by materials in the fonds.
Physical description: This identifies, in broad terms, the quantity and format of the records in the archive. Textual records are measured in terms of how much linear space they take up on a shelf.
This can help you decide how much time you will need to look at material. In this case, almost 10 metres of records is equal to about 25 bankers boxes. That is a lot of material to go through!
Biographical or Administrative History: Overview of the life or history of the creator, providing basic facts and highlights. For individuals, this is called a Biographical History; for organizations it is called an Administrative History.
Scope and content: This note provides more detailed information about the archival material, giving more specifics about what types of material an archive contains and the contexts in which the material was created and used.
This can give you a better idea of major thematic groupings in the archive and what types of records it contains. This is useful for deciding whether or not the materials are relevant to your research.
Immediate source of acquisition: This describes the recent history of the material and how it was acquired by the archival repository in which it is located.
Restrictions on access: This will tell you which parts of the archives are not currently accessible to users.
This is very important to look out for; not every document you might want to see is available yet!
Finding aids: These link to online listings of archival content. By following this link, you will find the detailed description of the materials in the archives.
Box/File Description
Finding aids for archives will look different across archives. Not all archives will be described to the file-level. As you read the finding aid, your may notice descriptions of individual files or documents within the boxes. Be aware of the level of the archives that the description relates.
At William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University, archival material is typically described at either the box or file level. Files are listed as "F.1, F.2, F.3 ...".
This description, for example, tells you that the box includes copies of lectures given by Henry Thode between 1971 and 1976. If this information is relevant to your research, you might be interested in requesting this box to look at!
