EAD (Encoded Archival Description ; Version 2002 Official Site)

Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version 2002

EAD Elements

<index> Index

Description:

A list of key terms and reference pointers that have been assembled to enhance access to the materials being described. The <index> can also serve as a helpful alphabetical overview of subjects, correspondents, photographers, or other entities represented in the collection. This back-of-the volume <index> may provide hypertext links, or it may note the container numbers useful for locating the position in the finding aid where the indexed material appears.

The <index> is assumed to be text that has to be tagged, not text generated automatically from the encoded finding aid. In some cases, the <index> repeats terms and names found elsewhere in the finding aid. In other cases, such as in some literary manuscript collections, the <index> may be the only place where a name is listed, and the references point to one or more files, which include letters from that person or corporate body, but which are described only in general terms, e.g., "Correspondents T-Z."

The <index> should contain <indexentry> elements, which consist of an access element, such as <name> or <subject>, followed by a Pointer <ptr>, Pointer Group <ptrgrp>, or Reference <ref> element. Plain text cannot be used in an <indexentry>. If the <indexentry> elements are expected to provide access points other than basic keyword retrieval, use authority file terms to facilitate access to the information within and across finding aid systems.

In EAD Version 1.0 <index> was a subelement of Adjunct Descriptive Data <add>, which has been deprecated in EAD 2002 (see Appendix B). The new Description Group <descgrp> element, which can group any of the <did>-level elements (except the Description of Subordinate Components <dsc>), may be used to wrap elements where a group heading is desirable. The <descgrp> element can be used to replace <add> when converting finding aids encoded in EAD V1.0 to EAD 2002.

May contain:

address, blockquote, chronlist, head, index, indexentry, list, listhead, note, p, table

May occur within:

archdesc, archdescgrp, c, c01, c02, c03, c04, c05, c06, c07, c08, c09, c10, c11, c12, descgrp, index

Attributes:

ALTRENDER #IMPLIED, CDATA
AUDIENCE #IMPLIED, external, internal
ENCODINGANALOG #IMPLIED, CDATA
ID #IMPLIED, ID

Example:

    <index>
        <head>Photographer Index</head>
        <p>Names of photographers and studios--and the cities and states in which they
        operated--are usually noted as they appear on the photographs (usually stamped or
        written on the versos). Corporate names appear in direct order; personal names in
        inverted order (i.e., filed by surname).  Rectos and versos of photographs were
        microfilmed to capture information exactly as it appears on the photographs.  To
        locate a specific photographer/studio, a user should consider all possible forms
        of entry (corporate and personal), browse the index under these forms, identify
        which LOT(s) contain photographs by that photographer/studio, then browse the relevant
        LOT on the microfilm to locate specific photographs that bear the markings of the
        specific photographer/studio.</p>
        <indexentry>
            <name>12th Air Force Photo:</name>
            <ref target="LOT13105" actuate="onrequest" show="replace">LOT 13105</ref>
        </indexentry>
        <indexentry>
            <name>15th Air Force Command:</name>
            <ref target="LOT13105" actuate="onrequest" show="replace">LOT 13105</ref>
        </indexentry>
        <indexentry>
            <name>324th Service Corp.:</name>
            <ref target="LOT13105" actuate="onrequest" show="replace">LOT 13105</ref>
        </indexentry>
        <indexentry>
            <name>A.L. Adams Photo Studio--Atlanta, Ga.:</name>
            <ref target="LOT13076" actuate="onrequest" show="replace">LOT 13076</ref>
        </indexentry>
        <indexentry>
            <name>AAA Agricultural Adjustment Agency by Cooper:</name>
            <ref target="LOT13121" actuate="onrequest" show="replace">LOT 13121</ref>
        </indexentry>
    </index>