Collection: a set of materials which are organized together because of a shared characteristic
Series or subseries: a set of material within a collection organized together because of a shared characteristic
Creator: the person, group, or organization responsible for bringing a collection together
Papers: documents accumulated by a person or family in the natural course of their affairs
Records: documents accumulated by person, group, or organization in the conduct of their business
Autograph collection: a set of documents intentionally acquired because of the prominence of their authors
Provenance: the origin of a set of materials
Finding aid: a document which describes the provenance and organization of an archival collection (also called a collection guide)
Container list: part of a finding aid which lists the physical arrangement of materials
Correspondents list: part of a finding aid which partially lists individual authors of correspondence in a collection
Granularity: the level of detail to which all or part of a collection is processed and described in the finding aid
b. = box (can range in size from a couple inches to a linear foot)
f. = folder (can contain one or several archival items)
of. = oversize folder
v. = volume (any bound, unboxed item, such as a scrapbook, a register, a printed book)
r. = reel (microfilm)
t. = tube (large, rolled item, such as architectural plans)
sr. = sound recording (usually an audiocassette)
er. = electronic record (digital files which need to be accessed on special computer station)
di. = disk image (a use copy of computer software)
[Unit ID] = a set of numbers which identifies an audiovisual document