Archival holdings are described in online finding aids, arranged by the name of the creator of the materials. Finding aids are accessible through our archival database.
For questions and general inquiries, or to request materials to view in the Glenbow Western Research Centre (GWRC), please email or phone us with your question. You can find our contact information on our website at https://asc.ucalgary.ca/contact/
Materials held in Archives and Special Collections need to be retrieved from storage vaults and may be held in an off-campus facility. We ask that researchers provide us with a minimum of two business days of notice regarding the books or archival materials they wish to request. If you are planning to consult a higher volume of materials (e.g. multiple boxes of archival materials) please let us know in advance, and we will work with you.
Consult the research guide to begin your research and learn more about finding materials here.
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Click the video guide below for a step-by-step process on searching for and requesting archival materials from Archives and Special Collections.
How to search for archival material
This video will guide you through the process of searching for, and requesting archival material through the University of Calgary Archives and Special Collections website.
1. asc.ucalgary.ca
Start by going to the University of Calgary Archives and Special Collections home page at asc.ucalgary.ca.
2. Click 'Search Archives'
To search archival materials, click on the "Search Archives" button located beneath the search bar.
3. Search Archives
This will direct you to the Search Archives daetabase. Here, you can search or browse for archival material using several key tools.
4. Enter your search terms
To perform a keyword search, click inside the main search bar located below the top banner, and type in your key terms.
5. Click the gear icon
If you want to add more specific search terms, click the gear icon to the left of the search bar and then click on Advanced search in the drop down menu.
6. Click 'Advanced search options'
Next, click on Advanced search options.
7. Accessing Advanced Search (3)
This will open the advanced search menu. From here, you can choose additional search conditions, such as level of description, copyright status, date, and others.
8. Search Demonstration
Now that we've covered some of the primary tools, let's perform a simple search using the main search bar. Type your keywords into the search bar and hit enter. For this example, I have used the search terms "Geoff Burtonshaw ".
9. Results Page
This will bring you to a results page. Here, all the hits from your search are displayed.
10. Review Results
Note that the number of search results is shown at the top of the page.
11. Narrow results
These results can be further refined by using the advanced search, or by using the filters on the left side of the page. Display these filters by clicking 'narrow your results' in the top left corner. You can also arrange these results by using the sorting menus located below the right side of the advanced search.
12. Click on your desired filter
Next, click one of the filter types to open a drop-down menu of options. For example, I have chosen to filter my results to only include hits at the collection level. Note that the number of results each filter will produce is displayed to the right of the option.
13. Click the red text
Here, I have chosen one of the results by clicking on the title of the collection. These result cards will often have a brief description of their contents displayed below the title, including the date and file reference code.
14. Finding Aid
Clicking on a result will bring you to the collection hierarchy. On this page, you can either search or browse within the collection you've chosen.
15. To browse, click on titles within the hierarchy
To browse the finding aid, click on the series titles within the hierarchy tree to expand and display the lower level records contained within. The hierarchy in descending order from highest to lowest level is: collection or fonds, series, subseries, file, and lastly, item. This information is displayed in square brackets to the left of the file title in the hierarchy tree, or in the identity field below.
16. Type in the Quick search
Alternatively, you can use the quick search located to the left of the hierarchy table. This tool will search out all the files within the collection that are related to a specific search term.
17. Click 'Browse all descriptions'
Here, I have used the family name "Le-peen", which produces a drop-down list of files related to this term. For a full list of all related files within the collection, click "Browse all descriptions" at the bottom of the list.
18. Click file/series titles to display information below
Once you have found a file of interest, click on the file title within the hierarchy tree or in the results list.
19. Record and forward file info to asc@ucalgary.libanswers.com
This will display the file information in the fields below the hierarchy table. If you would like to request this file for viewing, record the barcode, accession number, and boxfile number. Additionally, in the absence of any of these identifiers, record the reference code and title. You can then forward this information to asc@ucalgary dot libbanswers.com. This information will be used by archival staff to retrieve the requested material.
20. Forward info to ASC
Once we have confirmed your request, you can book a viewing appointment in the Glenbow Western Research Centre. Our regular hours are from Monday to Friday, 10am to 4:30pm.
If you have any questions please contact us at asc@ucalgary dot libAnswers.com. Thank you for watching this guide on searching archival materials.
