Accessing the IAI Collection
I. Using the IAI Collection Finding Aid in the West Virginia and Regional History Collection and Special Collections
The IAI Collection is listed in the Guide to Archives and Manuscripts as collection 3518. At the bottom of the basic record for the collection, there is a link for "standard view." Upon clicking this link, a new view appears with a navigation menu to the left.
In the left frame menu, there is:
- the link of "Title Page"
- the link "Summary Information" briefly describing the materials, inclusive dates, and physical size of the collection
- "Access and Use" link, providing the researcher with usage information regarding the archive records
- the link for the collection's "Historical Note" briefly describing the IAI and Henry Faulds
- the "Collection Scope and Content Note" link, showing each brief series description listed first; following the series list is every detailed record, which includes descriptions as well as the item's physical location
- the "Subject Terms" link providing people and topics most prevalent in the collection.
A key link for the researcher in the left menu is the one stating "Search within this finding aid". By clicking this link, the search engine will be limited to searching the records of this specific collection. After clicking the link, the webpage should state "searching within" and list the collection's title. In the search box, 3518 can be seen as a placeholder, but it will need to be removed so one's desired keywords can be inserted.
Specific topics and personal names such as "Faulds" as well as broad topics such as "handwriting" can be used. The search will look for the entire word that is entered. To do a more thorough search, one might use an asterisk as a truncation symbol. For example, if one types ‘finger*' then the results will include all records that begin with "finger" such as fingers, fingerprint, finger-print, fingerprinted, fingertips, fingerprinting, etc. If one types "fingerprints" only the results for that full word will be displayed.
Similarly, in searching dates, a search for "192*" will yield all dates in the 1920s.
When viewing the results of a search in a list, each found result will have the search keyword highlighted.
It is possible to do a web browser search within the search results by going to the "edit" menu of the browser program and selecting "find" (or use the control F shortcut), and typing in the desired keyword.
For yet another view, try clicking one of the top blue links "Collection Scope and Content Note" to see the highlighted results in the context of the full records. (Note: this brings up a very large webpage with all of the collection records, while still maintaining highlighted search records.)
II. Using the IAI Collection Materials in Circulation at WVU Libraries
A list of the circulating materials is available here: IAI Collection (pdf).
You can also search for IAI Collection materials by title or author in WorldCat.