Glossary

This glossary explains archival terms and acts as a bridge between the world of archives and the broader research community. The goal is to empower non-archivists to engage more fully with historical materials.

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Glossary A-Z image

This glossary has been created to be useful for researchers who aren’t archivists for several reasons:

Understanding Specialised Terminology: Archival work involves a lot of specialised language. A glossary helps demystify terms like “accession,” “appraisal,” and “archival description,” making it easier for researchers to understand the context and significance of the records they are examining.

Facilitating Research: By providing clear definitions, the glossary enables researchers to navigate archival materials more effectively. This is especially important when dealing with complex documents or historical records, as understanding the terminology can lead to better insights and interpretations.

Enhancing Communication: Researchers often collaborate with archivists and other professionals. Familiarity with archival terms can improve communication, ensuring that researchers can articulate their needs and questions more clearly.

Contextualizing Records: The glossary often includes terms that relate to the historical and administrative context of the records. This helps researchers appreciate the background of the documents, which can be crucial for understanding their relevance and implications.

Supporting Diverse Research Needs: Whether a researcher is working on genealogy, historical studies, or legal matters, the glossary provides a foundational understanding that can be applied across various fields of inquiry.

 

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A

Accession
Records sent to the National Archives to ensure their permanent preservation and access.
Accession number
The unique number or code assigned to permanently identify an accession.
Accession register/database
A document/database in which accessions are recorded according to a unique identifying number, usually in chronological order by date of receipt, and giving the source and other identifying information for each accession.
Accrual
Record(s) added to an existing collection. A second or subsequent accession to an existing collection. For example, each year the National Archives accepts accruals from the Department of the Taoiseach as this department continues to create records in the course of its work.
Acquisition
Materials received by a repository as a unit; an accession. The process of identifying and acquiring, by donation or purchase, historical materials from outside sources, including government departments, agencies and the courts as well as private donations.
Administrative context
The structure, functions and procedures of the organisational environment in which records were created.
Agency
An arm of the State such as a government department or court office that creates records. Each agency from which records are accessioned is given a specific prefix and identifying code. See Department of State.
Annotation
A note added or attached to an original record.
Appraisal
The process of determining the length of time records should be retained.
Archival description
The process of analysing, organising, and recording details about the formal elements of a record or collection of records, such as creator, title, dates, extent, and contents, to facilitate the work’s identification, management, and understanding.
Arrangement
The process of organising records with respect to their provenance and original order, to protect their context and to achieve physical or intellectual control over the materials.
Authentic copy
A reproduction that has been officially certified, especially so that it may be admitted as evidence. See Certified copy.
Authentic record
A record that is what it purports to be and that is free from tampering or corruption.

B

Backup
A copy of all, or portions, of software or data files on a system kept on storage media, such as tape or disk, or on a separate system so that the files can be restored if the original data is deleted or damaged.
Biographical note
Part of a catalogue record or finding aid that places the materials in context by providing basic information about the materials’ creator or author.
Born digital
An original record created in digital format. A paper record scanned to an electronic system is not born digitally. See Retrospective scanning.

C

Case files
A collection of documents (a file) relating to a particular investigation or in support of some administrative action.
Central registry
A unit of a Department of State responsible for the creation, control and maintenance of current records and/or semi-current records.
Certified copy
An official copy of a document(s) with an accompanying letter and seal of authentication issued by the National Archives for records required for legal purposes.
Certifying Officer
An individual appointed under the National Archives Act, 1986, Regulations, 1988 3(1) by the Secretary General, or equivalent, of a Department of State to oversee the implementation of the National Archives Act, 1986 and Regulations, 1988 within their Department of State.
Class
A group of documents or an identifiable sub-division of a series, record group or archive having common characteristics or the same archival value. Sometimes this term is used to mean series.
Classification scheme
A plan for the systematic identification and arrangement of business activities and records into categories according to logically structured conventions, methods and procedural rules.
Closed file
A file containing records generated by a process that has been completed and to which additional information is not likely to be added; a cut-off file. A file that is restricted and which is not on open access to researchers in the reading room.
Collection
An artificial assemblage of documents accumulated on the basis of some common characteristic without regard to the provenance of those documents. Not to be confused with an archival fonds.
Consenting Officer
An officer of the Department of the Taoiseach of at least Principal Officer grade, appointed by the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach. The Consenting Officer is responsible for approval or refusal of applications by Certifying Officers in Departments of State and public bodies for the withholding of records, in accordance with the National Archives Act, 1986, 8(2), 8(4), Regulations 1988 6, 7.
Conservation
The repair or stabilisation of archives to ensure that they survive in their original form as long as possible. The profession devoted to the preservation of cultural property for the future through examination, documentation, treatment, and preventive care, supported by research and education.
Copy
A duplication, in whole or in part, of an original document.
Copyright
A property right that protects the interests of authors or other creators of works in tangible media (or the individual or organisation to whom copyright has been assigned) by giving them the ability to control the reproduction, publication, adaptation, exhibition, or performance of their works.
Covering dates
The dates of the oldest and most recent items in a collection, series, or file.
Creator
The Department of State, agency, corporate body or individual that is responsible for the creation, accumulation or maintenance of records.
Current record
Records regularly used for the conduct of the current business of an agency, institution, or organisation and which, therefore, continue to be maintained in their place of origin; active records.
Custody
The responsibility for the care of documents based on their physical possession. Custody does not always include legal ownership or the right to control access to records.

D

Data element
A unit of information as defined within an information system, typically corresponding to a field in a database record or printed form.
Database
A structured assembly of logically related data designed to meet various applications but managed independently of them.
Deaccession
The process by which an archive formally removes material from its custody. An archive may deaccession material because the material has been reappraised and found to be unsuitable for its holdings, the legal owner has requested permanent return of the materials, or the institution has agreed to transfer the materials to another repository.
Department of State
A Department of State is defined in section 1(2) of the National Archives Act, 1986 as all government departments, all court offices, bodies listed in the schedule to the Act and any ‘body which is a committee, commission or tribunal of enquiry appointed from time to time by the Government, a member of the Government or the Attorney General’.
Departmental record
A Departmental record is defined in section 2(2) of the National Archives Act, 1986 and includes books, maps, plans, drawings, papers, files, photographs, films, microfilms and other micrographic records, sound recordings, pictorial records, magnetic tapes, magnetic discs, optical or video discs, other machine-readable records, other documentary or processed material made or received, and held in the course of its business, by a Department of State.
Deposit
To place of documents in the custody of an archives without transfer of legal title.
Digital preservation
An essential and necessary component of digital archiving ensuring longevity of an electronic object. Digital preservation covers the processes and operations involved in ensuring the technical and intellectual survival of authentic electronic records over time (such as the ongoing monitoring, migration and storage of records and managing the metadata which describes the origin and successive treatment of the record).
Digital record
A record in electronic form.
Disaster plan
Policies, procedures, and information that direct the appropriate actions to recover from and mitigate the impact of an unexpected interruption of operations, whether natural or man-made.
Disposal
The transfer of records, especially non-current records, to their final state, either destruction or transfer to the National Archives. Disposal of departmental records without the authorisation of the Director of the National Archives is a breach of section 7 of the National Archives Act, 1986.
Document
Recorded information regardless of medium or characteristics.

E

E-mail
Transmission of messages, their metadata, and possible attachments over communications networks. Email is a message format and should be filed with the appropriate file, according to the message content.
Electronic record
A record that is stored electronically, regardless of the media or whether it is in the original format in which it was created, as opposed to stored in hard copy (i.e. on paper).
Ephemera
Materials, usually printed documents, created for a specific, limited purpose, and generally designed to be discarded after use.

F

File
An organised unit of documents grouped together either for current use by the creator or in the process of archival arrangement, because they relate to the same subject, activity, or transaction. A file is usually the basic unit within a record series. A file can be physical or electronic. For example, a personnel file or a grant application containing an application form and supporting documentation.
File format
The organisation of data within digital objects, usually designed to facilitate the storage, retrieval, processing, presentation and/or transmission of the data by software.
Filing system
A group of conventions, methods, and procedural rules according to which documents are sorted, classified, cross-referenced, stored and retrieved.
Finding Aid
A description of records that gives the repository physical and intellectual control over the records and that assists users to gain access to and understand the records.
Fonds
The entire body of records of an organisation, family, or individual that have been created and accumulated as the result of an organic process reflecting the functions of the creator.
Function
The activities of an organisation or individual performed to accomplish some core mandate or mission. The functions of Departments of State are mandated by statute.

G

Guide
A broad description of the holdings at one or more archives, typically at the collection level.

I

Inactive record
A record no longer needed to conduct current business but preserved until it meets the end of its retention period.
Intellectual control
The control established over archival material by documenting in finding aids its provenance, arrangement, composition, scope, informational content and internal and external relationships.
Item
The smallest intellectually indivisible archival unit, e.g. a letter, memorandum, report, photograph, sound recording.
Item level description
The smallest intellectually indivisible archival unit (e.g., a letter, memorandum, report, or photograph). Items accumulate to form classes or series.

L

Legal custody
The responsibility for the care of documents based on their physical possession. Custody does not always include legal ownership, or the right to control access to records.
Legal value
Usefulness of a record in complying with statutes and regulations, as evidence in legal proceedings, as legal proof of business transactions or to protect an individual’s or a Department of State’s rights and interests.
Level of arrangement
The hierarchical, intellectual, and physical divisions used in archives management, including repository, record group, fonds, collection, subgroups, series, subseries, file, and item
Level of description
The position of the unit of description in the hierarchy of the fonds.
Life cycle
A model of records management and archival science that characterises the life span of a record from its creation or receipt to its final disposal.

M

Manuscript
A handwritten or typed document. A typed document is more precisely called a typescript; documents of manuscript character usually having historical or literary value or significance.
Medium
The physical material, container, and/or carrier in or on which information is recorded (e.g. parchment, paper, magnetic tape).
Metadata
Data describing context, content and structure of records and their management through time.
Metadata schema
A framework that specifies and describes a standard set of metadata elements and their interrelationships that need to be recorded to ensure the identification of records and their authenticity. Schemas provide a formal syntax (or structure) and semantics (or definitions) for the metadata elements.
Microfilm
The use of photographic processes to produce very small images of original material on a film base. Preservation microfilming is undertaken to minimise handling and use of fragile records and enhance their preservation and accessibility.
Migration
The act of moving records from one system to another, while maintaining their authenticity, integrity, reliability and usability. Migration involves a set of organised tasks designed to periodically transfer digital material from one hardware or software configuration to another, or from one generation of technology to another.

N

Non-current record
Records that are no longer used in the day-to-day course of business, but which are preserved and occasionally used for legal, historical or operational purposes. See Current records, Semi-current records.

O

Official record
A complete, final and authorised copy of a record, especially the copy bearing an original signature or seal. See Departmental record.
Open file
A file to which documents continue to be added. A file on open access to researchers in the reading room.
Original
The first complete and effective version of a record that is designated as the official record.

P

Personal papers
Documents created, acquired or received by an individual in the course of his or her affairs and preserved in their original order (if such order exists).
Physical form
The overall appearance, configuration, or shape, derived from a document’s characteristics and independent of intellectual content.
Policy
A high-level overall plan, containing a set of principles, embracing the general goals of the Department of State, and used to base decisions.
Policy file
A file documenting the development and implementation of a high-level overall plan and set of principles.
Preservation
Processes and operations that minimise chemical and physical deterioration over time and prevent loss of information. This includes storing, protecting and maintaining records in an optimum manner and may include reformatting if required. See Conservation.
Preservation framework
The whole of the external archival and institutional controls expressed as a coherent synthesis of requirements for preservation of (digital) records.
Primary value
The worth that records/archives possess, by virtue of their contents, for the continued transaction of the business that gave rise to their creation.
Private archives
Records or archives of non-governmental provenance deposited in, or purchased by, the National Archives.
Proprietary
In reference to hardware technology, software applications and/or file formats, the state of being privately owned and controlled.
Provenance
Information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of record(s).

R

Records management
The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of, and information about, business activities and transactions in the form of records.
Records manager
An individual responsible for the administration of programmes for the efficient and economical handling, protecting and disposing of records throughout their life cycle.
Records system
A set of rules governing record-making and recordkeeping, as controlled by the creator’s records management function, and the tools and mechanisms used to implement these rules.
Reference code
A number or code assigned to uniquely identify a record or fonds.
Reference copy
A copy of a record kept for easy access to the information it contains, as opposed to its intrinsic or evidential value.
Register
A document, usually a volume, in which regular entry is made of data of any kind by statutory authority or because the data are considered of sufficient importance to be exactly and formally recorded. The process of formally recording information in a register.
Registry
A division within an organisation responsible for the recording, control and maintenance of records.
Registry system
The policies and procedures that govern the recording, control and maintenance of records within an organisation through the use of formal registers, lists and indexes.
Reproduction
The process of generating a copy.
Requisitioning Officer
A Requisitioning Officer is an individual of at least Executive Officer level appointed under the National Archives Act, 1986, Regulations 1988 3(2) to oversee the implementation of the National Archives Act, 1986 8(9) within their Department of State. A Requisitioning Officer must be a named individual appointed by the Secretary General, or equivalent, of their Department of State.
Retention and disposal schedule
A comprehensive document that identifies and describes an organisation’s records, usually at the series level, indicating the length of time each series should be retained and the point at which it should be permanently preserved as archives and transferred to the National Archives or disposed of in accordance with the provisions of section 7 of the National Archives Act, 1986.
Retrospective scanning
The digitisation of records originally in paper format and ingestion into an electronic document management system.

S

Sampling
The process of selecting items from a collection to represent the collection as a whole.
Seal
A die/matrix, usually of metal, engraved in intaglio with the device or design used to produce a seal by the application of pressure. Dies may be of one-sided design only or in pairs producing dissimilar designs simultaneously in each seal. A piece of wax, lead, or other material upon which an impression in relief from a seal has been made, attached to a document, or applied to the face thereof, originally serving as a means of authentication; also used to close a document.
Series
Documents arranged in accordance with a filing system or maintained as a unit because they result from the same accumulation or filing process, or the same activity; have a particular form; or because of some other relationship arising out of their creation, receipt or use. A series is also known as a records series.
Storage medium
Various types of storage materials on which information is recorded, such as paper, magnetic, microform, and optical.
Sub fonds
A subdivision of a fonds containing a body of related records corresponding to administrative subdivisions in the originating agency or organisation or to geographical, chronological, functional or similar groupings of the material itself.
Sub series
A body of documents within a series readily distinguished from the whole by filing arrangement, type, form or content.
Supporting record
Records that are not required to be made but are created to document and explain some action.

T

Title
A word or phrase that identifies a unit of description.
Transfer
Change of custody, ownership and/or responsibility for records (movement) moving records from one location to another. The transfer of departmental records from Departments of State to the National Archives for release to the public under section 8 of the National Archives Act, 1986.
Trusted preservation system
The whole of the rules that control the preservation and use of the records of the creator and provide a circumstantial probability of the authenticity of the records, and the tools and mechanisms used to implement those rules.
Trusted recordkeeping system
The whole of the rules that control the creation, maintenance, use and disposition of the records of the creator and provide a circumstantial probability of the authenticity of the records, and the tools and mechanisms used to implement those rules.

U

Unit of description
A document or set of documents in any physical form, treated as an entity, and, as such, forming the basis for a single description, e.g. fonds, record group, archive group, collection, subgroup, series, item.

W

Weeding
The process of the removal of individual documents or files lacking continuing value from a record series.
Withholding
The retention of Departmental records by Departments of State as stipulated in section 8 of the National Archives Act, 1986.

X

XML (Extensible Mark-up Language)
A general-purpose specification for creating custom, cross-platform, text-based, mark-up languages used both to encode documents and to serialise data; a subset of General Standardized Mark-up Language (SGML) with use and design similar to Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) but employing user-definable mark-up tags that indicate the logical structure in addition to the display specifications of data elements.