The finding aid provides both the researcher and the archivist essential information about each collection. Each manuscript finding aid may consist of three levels of description. The primary and most general level is the collection guide. This level contains general information about the collection such as biographical or historical background, the scope and content of the collection, and the date range and number of items in the collection. The second level of the finding aid is the series description, which provides a brief overview of the files contained within each collection. The third and most specific level is the container list. At this level, each collection is described in terms of its physical arrangement including box level and folder level information. For those collections which do not require either a series description or a container list, a physical location will be provided in the collection guide.

Manuscript Finding Aids Title Index -- A directory to most collections currently available on this website. Some newer finding aids are available here.

Civil War Manuscript Collections -- A directory to most collections concerning the American Civil War.

Florida Governors Manuscripts Collections -- A directory to most collections concerning the Governors of the State of Florida.

Florida State University (FSU) Collections -- A directory to some collections concerning Florida State College for Women (FSCW), Florida State University (FSU) and The Seminary West of the Suwannee.

Local Manuscript Collections -- A directory to many collections concerning Tallahassee, Leon County, and the surrounding region.

Name and Subject Index -- An index to many of the names and subjects found in the manuscript collections in the department.

©1998 Florida State University. All rights reserved. Created by Aimee Reist and John Nemmers. Send comments to FSU Libraries Special Collections