Metadata Reference Guide

EAD – Encoded Archival Description*

Definition and documentation:
The EAD Document Type Definition (DTD) is a data structure standard for encoding archival finding aids#. It defines the structural elements and designates the content of descriptive guides to archival and manuscript holdings following the syntax of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML – ISO 8879). The Society of American Archivists (SAA) is the owner of the intellectual component of the EAD, and the SAA EAD Working Group (EAD Roundtable) is overseeing its development. The MARC Standard Office of the Library of Congress (LC) acts as the maintenance agency and provides access to the online documentation.

EAD enables standardized exchange of descriptive data contained in specific types of archival finding aids known either as archival inventories* or manuscript registers§. It provides tools for a detailed, multilevel description, structured display, navigation, and searching. It plays a similar role for archival materials to that played by a MARC record for library holdings. While collection-level MARC records contain bibliographic information about archival and manuscript holdings, full text finding aids provide detailed descriptions of collections essential for understanding their content and research value.

The official EAD documentation consists of:
EAD DTD and related files
EAD Tag Library
EAD Application Guidelines
It is available at the official EAD web site:
http://www.loc.gov/ead/

Tools and helper files are available at the SAA EAD Roundtable’s web site:
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ead/eadfiles.html

The EAD Listserv, operating since December 1995, provides a means for the exchange of information about EAD development. It is not an open list; subscriptions are limited to developers and implementers. Also, it is not moderated, which means that all messages sent by approved subscribers are sent to all other subscribers. Information about the EAD electronic list can be found at:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/ead/eadlist.html

In addition, the Research Libraries Group (RLG) maintains an EAD support site in an effort to assist RLG members to apply EAD in preserving and disseminating information about their archival and manuscript collections over the World Wide Web.
http://www.rlg.org/rlgead/

Constituency:
The EAD DTD has been developed for use by the archivists and manuscript curators. It is intended to provide standardized, digital description of archival and manuscript collections and facilitate uniform, on-line, Web-based access to the detailed information about primary research materials held in repositories worldwide.

An inventory, maintained at http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html, lists approximately 4,800 web sites (as of February 2002), describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary resources throughout the world. Subscribers to Archival Resources, a service provided by RLG since 1998, can search more than 600,000 catalog records for archival collections and items through the Archival and Mixed Collections (AMC) file. In addition, the same service provides access to more than 25,000 full-text finding aids to specific collections.

EAD training opportunities are available through the SAA Continuing Education Program (http://www.archivists.org/prof-education). In addition, there are one-week summer classes organized by the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.

History of use – progress towards standardization:
Development of the EAD marks the latest stage in the long-term efforts assumed by the archival community to facilitate broad access to information about archival and manuscript materials in the United States. The government-sponsored (Work Progress Administration) survey of historical records in the 1930’s was one of the first projects undertaken to achieve this goal. The initiation of the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, published between 1959 and 1993, constituted the next step. It was followed by the publication of the Guide to the Archives and Manuscript Collections in the United States in 1961. The development of the MARC AMC (Archival and Manuscript Control) format began in the late 1970’s, leading to a data structure standard, while a data content standard (APPM standard) was published in Archives, Professional Papers, and Manuscripts: Cataloging Manual for Archival Repositories, Historical Societies, and Manuscript Libraries (1st ed, 1963).

Work towards providing online access to standardized, electronic description of archival and manuscript collections began in the early 1990’s when the Library at the University of California at Berkeley received funds from the Department of Education to study the problem. Daniel Pitti, the principal investigator of the Berkeley project, investigated different options for developing a non-proprietary standard for machine-readable finding aids. As a result, SGML was selected as a framework for future development. By 1995, the first version of the Berkeley Finding Aid Project Document Type Definition, BFAP DTD (also known as FINDAID DTD), was released. It consisted of an optional title page, description of archival material, and optional back matter. By that time, nearly 200 finding aids from 15 repositories were converted to SGML documents.

In July 1995, a group of archivists, known later as the Bentley team, started working towards revision of the finding aid data model and its DTD, formulating guidelines, and providing examples. They came up with a set of principles (also known as Ann Arbor Accords) for the design of the future DTD. The basic structure of the EAD document was to consist of two segments, one describing the information about the finding aid, the other about the archival material. The information about the archival material was to include a multilevel description of a unit of records and additional information that, although not directly related to the described documents, might be of use to researchers.

In August 1995, EAD concepts and ideas were presented at the SAA Annual Meeting. At that time, the SAA Committee on Archival Information Exchange established the EAD Working Group, which assumed responsibility for monitoring and supporting ongoing development of the EAD DTD, tag library, and application guidelines. The Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office was asked, and agreed, to serve as the maintenance agency for the developing standard.

The alpha version of the EAD DTD was released in February 1996. The beta version followed several months later, in September 1996. Version 1 was released in August 1998, providing greater compatibility with the emerging Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard. Version 2 is scheduled for release in 2002. Suggestions and comments are solicited for potential changes to the EAD, and discussions are taking place about EAD’s relationship to other archival data standards such as MARC AMC, the International Standard for Archival Description General (ISAD-G), and the Canadian Rules for Archival Description (RAD).

Prerequisites:
Application of the EAD DTD requires working experience with archival inventories and manuscript registers, knowledge of APPM archival data content standards (Archives, Professional Papers, and Manuscripts: Cataloging Manual for Archival Repositories, Historical Societies, and Manuscript Libraries), familiarity with SGML and/or XML, EAD DTD, and controlled vocabularies (e.g. LCSH, LCNAF, Art and Architecture Thesaurus, Directory of Occupational Titles).

Content and encoding:
An excellent overview of the EAD DTD structure can be found at:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/ead/tglib/tlover.html

In addition, the RLG EAD Support Site provides RLG Recommended Application Guidelines for EAD: http://www.rlg.org/rlgead/guidelines.html

In principle, encoded finding aids consist of three parts, the first describing the information about the finding aid itself (<eadheader>), the second describing the prefatory matter useful for the display or publication of the finding aid (<frontmatter>), and the third one containing the description of the archival records or manuscript papers (<archdesc>). Document Type Definition defines document structure, while elements constitute informational units. Elements can be modified with attributes. EAD presentation (display) is prescribed using style sheets - separate files controlling presentation of data (text layout and format). Style sheets can also supply default text and images.

EAD Tag Library, available at the official EAD web site (http://www.loc.gov/ead/), provides an overview of the EAD structure and a description of the EAD elements. EAD Application Guidelines, also available at the official EAD web site (http://www.loc.gov/ead/), describes administrative considerations of embarking on an EAD project, issues related to creating finding aids in EAD, authoring and publishing EAD documents, basic SGML and XML concepts, and EAD linking elements. In addition, it provides a list of recommended elements; crosswalks between EAD, MARC, DC, and ISAD-G; implementation checklist; examples, glossary of terms; and a bibliography.


Encoding:
Documentation on the official SGML EAD DTD:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/ead/

FAQ regarding XML implementation of EAD concepts:
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ead/xml.html

The EAD Cookbook:
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ead/cookbookhelp.html

Crosswalks:
EAD Application Guidelines, available at the official EAD web site (http://www.loc.gov/ead/) provide crosswalk tables for conversion between different metadata schemes:

ISAD-G to EAD
EAD to ISAD-G
Dublin Core to EAD
USMARC to EAD

Implementation:
As of now (February 2002), there are almost 150 archival and manuscript repositories providing access to their finding aids through the RLG Archival Resources service. The SAA EAD Roundtable maintains an annotated list of archival and manuscript repositories involved in implementation of encoded archival description for providing access to their collections (http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ead/). To date nearly fifty repositories publish EAD versions for at least part of their holdings. In addition, almost twenty EAD cooperative projects were undertaken so far. Two years ago (1998), the American Institute of Physics initiated a project to provide online access to the selected archival and manuscript collections in the field of physics. MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections has participated in the AIP initiative. As a result, finding aids for some of our collections were marked up and published on the Web (http://www.aip.org/history/ead/).

Reading materials
A brief list of on-line readings and Internet sites is maintained by the SAA EAD Roundtable on the EAD Help Pages (http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ead/readings.html).

* The following sources were consulted in preparation of this text:
• Encoded Archival Description: Application Guidelines. Version 1. Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1999.
• Pitti, Daniel. “Encoded Archival Description: The Development of an Encoding Standard for Archival Finding Aids”, American Archivist, vol. 60, Summer 1997, pp. 268-283. Also other articles devoted to EAD and published in the summer and fall 1997 issues of the American Archivist, vol. 60, nos. 3-4.
• Encoded Archival Description Official Web Site - http://www.loc.gov/ead/
• RLG EAD Support Site - http://www.rlg.org/rlgead/

# According to A glossary for archivists, manuscript curators, and record managers (compiled by Lewis J. Bellardo and Lynn Lady Bellardo, Chicago: The Society of American Archivists, 1992, p. 14):
a finding aid is defined as “the descriptive tool, published or unpublished, manual or electronic, produced by a creator, records center, archives, or manuscript repository to establish physical control and/or intellectual control over records and/or archival materials. Basic finding aids include local, regional, or national descriptive databases; guides; inventories; registers; location registers; indexes; calendar and, for electronic records, software documentation”

- According to A glossary…, p. 19, an archival inventory is described as “a basic archival finding aid whose unit of entry is usually the series. An inventory generally includes a brief administrative history of the organization(s) whose records are being described as well as descriptions of the records. Series descriptions give as minimum such data as title, inclusive dates, quantity, arrangement, relationships to other series, and scope and content notes. Inventories may also contain appendices that provide such supplementary information as container lists, folder lists, a glossary of abbreviations and special terms, lists of file units on special subjects, indexes, and classification plans/schemes.”


§ According to A glossary…, p. 30, a manuscript register the finding aid developed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress to describe groups of papers and records by giving their provenance and conditions of access and use; scope and general content, including inclusive dates and bulk dates, a biographical note about the person, family group, or organization, whose material it is; its arrangement; a folder list; and on occasion, selective indexes.”