CA Arrangement & Description 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In archival arrangement, what is a 'series'?
- Any group of records created by the same individual
- A body of records filed or maintained together because of some relationship (Correct answer)
- A set of photographic or audiovisual materials
- A collection of unrelated documents grouped by date
Correct answer: A body of records filed or maintained together because of some relationship
A series is a group of records maintained together because they relate to the same function, activity, subject, or filing system, forming a logical unit within a collection.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a box and folder list within a finding aid?
- To describe the intellectual content and significance of the collection
- To provide item-level descriptions of every individual document
- To help researchers identify the specific physical location of materials (Correct answer)
- To record the acquisition cost and appraisal value of materials
Correct answer: To help researchers identify the specific physical location of materials
A box and folder list serves as a container list that identifies the precise physical location of materials, allowing researchers to request specific boxes or folders.
Question 3: Which of the following best defines a 'fonds' in international archival terminology?
- The financial records of a collecting institution
- The whole of records created and received by a particular person or organization (Correct answer)
- A series of related photographic materials from one event
- A group of collections donated by a single family
Correct answer: The whole of records created and received by a particular person or organization
A fonds is the total body of records that originated from a single creator—a person, family, or organization—reflecting their activities and functions.
Question 4: How does 'arrangement' differ from 'description' in archival processing?
- They refer to the same intellectual activity performed simultaneously
- Arrangement is the physical and intellectual organization of records; description creates the access tools that communicate that organization (Correct answer)
- Arrangement applies only to digital records; description applies only to physical records
- Description precedes and determines arrangement in all standard workflows
Correct answer: Arrangement is the physical and intellectual organization of records; description creates the access tools that communicate that organization
Arrangement involves organizing records into logical groupings and determining their order, while description involves creating finding aids and other tools that communicate that arrangement to researchers.
Question 5: Which encoding standard makes archival finding aids machine-readable and interoperable across different repositories?
- HTML with structured formatting
- XML following the EAD schema (Correct answer)
- PDF with embedded metadata
- CSV with standardized column headers
Correct answer: XML following the EAD schema
EAD (Encoded Archival Description) uses XML to structure finding aid data so it can be shared, searched, and aggregated across different archival information systems.
Question 6: What is a 'sub-series' in hierarchical archival arrangement?
- A smaller collection housed within a larger repository
- A subdivision of a series whose records share a more specific common characteristic (Correct answer)
- A group of oversize materials extracted from a series
- A restricted portion of a series awaiting review
Correct answer: A subdivision of a series whose records share a more specific common characteristic
A sub-series is a body of records within a series that can be distinguished from the rest of the series by filing arrangement, type, form, or subject.
Question 7: Which of the following is NOT a recognized level in the standard archival description hierarchy?
- Collection
- Series
- Chapter (Correct answer)
- Item
Correct answer: Chapter
Chapter is not an archival description level; the standard hierarchy runs from collection/fonds down through record group, series, sub-series, file, and item.
CA Arrangement & Description 2
In archival arrangement, what is a 'series'?