Guides: Undergraduate Research Seminar: The 1963 March on Washington: Archival Tools

Identifying Archival Collections

Archives and special collections are by their nature difficult to identify with a central database. Small special collections are frequently missed and large collections have material that haven't even been described yet.

It is important to go beyond these indexes and contact libraries and archives that might have relevant resources to speak with the local experts.

United States

ArchiveGrid
Provides centralized access for searching and retrieval of archival records and finding aids, including finding aids indexed centrally at RLG and others located on servers around the world and records in RLG's AMC (Archival and Mixed Collections) file. AMC provides researchers with timely and comprehensive access to brief, high-level information for nearly half a million collections of manuscripts and archives.
WorldCat
Database containing the records of all material cataloged by OCLC libraries, including hundreds in the United States and some major libraries in other countries. Manuscript collections that are cataloged by these libraries will appear in Worldcat.