Glossary of Archival Terms
Archives	Arrangement	Collection
Copyright	Culling	Custodial history
Description	Finding aids	Fonds
Provenance	Respect des fonds	Restrictions on access
Series	Sous fonds	Sub-Series
Archives
An institution responsible for the appraisal, acquisition, preservation, and provisions of access to archival documents. A building or part of a building in which archival materials are preserved and made available for consultation. see Fonds.
Arrangement		Return to the top
The intellectual and physical operations involved in the analysis and organization of records. Based upon the principle of provenance, and especially the principle of original order, the purpose of arrangement is to group the components of a fonds into an order which reflects the system by which the documents were originally created and used. Such a system will (i) reflect the structure and/or functions of the creator; (ii) show relationships between records; and (iii) demonstrate the original meaning and significance of the documents. If no original order is evident, then an order based upon other criteria (such as functions, or alphabetical, chronological, geographical, or subject order) may be used. Arrangement may be carried out at all or any of the following levels: fonds, sous fonds, series, sub-series, file unit, or item.
Collection		Return to the top
An artificial accumulation of documents of any provenance brought together on the basis of some common characteristic, e.g., way of acquisition, subject, language, medium, type of document, name of collector, to be treated for description purposes as a descriptive unit under a common title.
Copyright		Return to the top
The exclusive right, granted by law, of the creator of a work (or his/her assignees or employers) to make or dispose of copies and otherwise to control the use of a literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, or other work. The Copyright Act in Canada is not concerned with ideas or the originality of ideas; it is the language or the expression of the idea which is the subject matter of copyright.
Culling		Return to the top
The removal of non-archival material from file units during the processing of records. The documents removed may be returned to the donor, donated to another archival institution, or destroyed.
Custodial history		Return to the top
The history of the custody of the material being described, i.e., its successive transfers of ownership and custody.
Description		Return to the top
The process of recording information about the nature and content of the records in archival custody. The description identifies such features as provenance, extent, arrangement, format, and contents, and presents them in a standardized form.
Finding aids		Return to the top
Descriptive tools, e.g., registers, guides, inventories, indexes, file/item listings containing information about records in archival custody, that establish administrative, physical, or intellectual control over the holdings of an archives, and make it possible to retrieve particular records or information from these archives.
Fonds		Return to the top
The whole of the records, regardless of form or medium, automatically and organically created and/or accumulated and used by a particular individual, family, or corporate body in the course of that creator's activities or functions.
Provenance		Return to the top
The person(s) or office(s) of origin of records, i.e., the person(s), family (families), or corporate body (bodies) that created and/or accumulated and used records in the course of that creator's activities or functions.
Respect des fonds		Return to the top
The principle that the records of a person, family or corporate body must be kept together in their original order, if it exists or has been maintained, and not be mixed or combined with the records of another individual or corporate body.
Restrictions on access		Return to the top
The conditions governing access to all or part of the material being described, including any laws, regulations, policies, donor terms, or any other relevant access conditions.
Series		Return to the top
A subdivision of a fonds maintained as an entity because the documents relate to a particular function or subject, result from the same activity, have a particular form, or because of some other relationship arising out of the circumstances of their creation or use.
Sous fonds		Return to the top
A body of related records within a fonds, usually consisting of the records of an important subordinate administrative unit or family unit. Sous fonds may also be established for related bodies of documents within a fonds that can best be defined in terms of chronological, functional, or geographical relationships. Sous fonds may be divided into as many further levels as are necessary to reflect the hierarchical organizational units within the subordinate administrative unit, or that will assist in grouping series in terms of their relationships.
Sub-Series		Return to the top
A group of related material within a series, usually identified by subject, type of material, function, or filing arrangement.

*This glossary was adapted from content on the Simon Fraser University Archives website
(http://www.sfu.ca/archives/glossary.html#archival)