SNAC Archives

Build an ArchiveGrid search address for the user to open. Makes no network call. ArchiveGrid often finds what SNAC cannot: collections known only by place or subject, and HTML or PDF finding aids. OCLC forbids automated access, so give the link to the user; never fetch it. Fielded indexes cover catalogue records and EAD only; HTML and PDF finding aids match keywords only. Over 90% of hits are collection-level WorldCat records, and microfilm held by many libraries (county or church records) is usually missing.

Report this session's SNAC calls and cache use. Makes no network call.

List the collections linked to both of two names. Useful for intermarried families and the associates around an ancestor: papers that mention both are where to look for letters between them. Two names on one collection do not show the two people knew each other.

Read one collection description in full, with the names SNAC links to it. Depth varies: a one-line MARC record with no box or folder list is normal, and a terse description does not mean a person is absent from the papers. Follow `link` (when `link_kind` is finding_aid) or the repository's own catalogue to the finding aid; that is the description to cite, by its collection number. Record `oclc_number`. "[microform]" in a title means a copy; the original is elsewhere.

Read one SNAC name record: who or what it is, and the collections linked to it. In `collections`, role creatorOf means these are the name's own papers; referencedIn means the name is an index term on the collection, not proof the person appears in any document. The biography is copied from a finding aid: secondary information to follow up, not to cite for a fact. `maybe_same_count` above 0 means SNAC suspects this record and another describe one entity. Record the `ark`, not the numeric id.

List the collections SNAC links to one repository, filtered by title. The first call for a large repository is slow (10 to 20 seconds; it is SNAC building a list of thousands) and is then cached. The list is SNAC's link table, not the repository's catalogue: it includes printed and microform items and misses recent accessions. Survey "repositories" such as a state historical documents inventory record what a town or church held when surveyed decades ago; the material may since have moved.

Find archival collections by words in their title, with who holds each. Matches the collection TITLE only, and every word must appear: a county or second surname named only in the abstract will not match, so use archivegrid_search_link or search_names for those. The same papers often appear two or three times (a WorldCat record plus harvested finding aids); `possible_duplicate_of` flags them. SNAC's catalogue is largely a 2010s snapshot. A hit tells you where papers are, not what they say: confirm the collection number in the repository's own catalogue, and cite its finding aid, never this result.

Find SNAC name records for a person, family or organisation. A heading such as "Anderson family." matches hundreds of unrelated families, usually one record per source collection, with no place or date to tell them apart. A SNAC record is a machine-built authority record, not an identification: narrow with get_name, reading the collections it links to and their places and dates, before treating any record as your family.