In the frames version of our Internet Finding Aids, the top frame contains an outline of a collection with links to various parts of it. You can see more of this outline by pulling down the bottom of the frame. You can go to the list of our collections by clicking on the title of the collection at the top.
The middle frame displays details of the finding aid -- generally an overview with a note concerning the scope and content of the collection followed by a container list. The finding aid provides information concerning our holdings; you can seldom actually see the images documents described. In other words, the finding aid resembles a library catalog that gives information about books without presenting the full text of those books.
The bottom frame contains a form that lets you search the contents of the individual finding aid you have before you. To search many finding aids at once, click on the seal at the top left and put your keywords into the form at the top of the list of our collections. Of course, to search a single finding aid makes little sense if it is so short that you can see the whole thing in the middle frame. But many of our finding aids are quite long, and the middle frame shows only a segment at a time. For these, it helps to have the ability to search the whole finding aid.
If you find something that interests you and you would like to order photocopies or ask a question, please email us at Archives.1@nd.edu and paste the lines about which you want to ask into your email message.