About Collection Guides

Collection guides are documents that describe and map archival material held at a particular institution. Researchers use collection guides to find and identify archival holdings that may be pertinent to their research.

Most collection guides include background information on the person or institution responsible for the creation of the records; a description of the contents, strengths, and weaknesses of the collection; as well as information on how the collection is arranged, how it has been managed, and how researchers can access and use it.

Collection guides are only pointers to archival material. They describe the collection and its arrangement, but rarely the individual items contained within it. In many cases it is only by examining a file that one can know its exact contents. Most archival material at the RAC is not digitized and must be consulted on site. Researchers are invited to schedule an appointment to examine our holdings.

Searching tips and tricks

You can search across the RAC’s archival materials, books, DVDs, VHS and microfilm holdings from the home page or the Advanced Search page. You can search within an archival collection by selecting that collection and then using the "search within this collection" in the navigation bar.

An asterisk - * - will find from one to many characters within a word: hist* will retrieve history, histories, and historians, coo*tion will find cooperation and coordination

A question mark - ? - will find only one character within a word: america? will retrieve american and americas, wom?n will retrieve woman, women, and womyn

To search for an exact string, place quotation marks around the string: "south africa" will find south africa, but not south african

Search queries are not case sensitive. Except for the above examples, punctuation is ignored.

Refining your search

On every search results screen you will see a box titled "Refine Search." It contains categories called facets, and you can discover relevant resources by browsing the contents of the facets. By selecting one or more facets (1) you can further narrow your initial search. In order to remove a facet and expand your search click on the [x] next to the search term (2) in the navigation bar. When you see a facet under "Refine Search" that is of interest to you, you can also dig in deeper by clicking the "more" link (3) to see additional terms.

Get notified when we update the site

When you see this icon it means there is an RSS feed for this search. You can click on it to subscribe to see the most recent changes and additions in that search in your favorite feed reader.

Not everything is up yet!

We’re still in the process of adding information to this system.

Some large collections, like those of the Ford Foundation, Population Council, and Rockefeller University, are only partially represented in the online system; other smaller collections, like the Trilateral Commission, the Near East Foundation, and some collections of personal papers are not yet represented at all (note: finding aids for Ford Foundation grant records are not yet available online). Please contact the archival staff at archive@rockarch.org for further information about these collections.

About Archival Materials

Archival holdings are generally comprised of original, unpublished material of enduring value created by a person, family, or organization. This material often includes primary source records and firsthand accounts of events and transactions. Archival material may include a variety of media or formats such as correspondence, memos, reports, bound diaries, scrapbooks, maps, blueprints, photographic negatives and prints, films, VHS or audio tapes, or electronic records.

Why DIMES?

DIMES is an acronym for Digital Information Management Engine for Searching. It's also a reference to John D. Rockefeller Sr.'s ritual practice of dispensing dimes to reward services exceptionally rendered, deliver a brief sermon on the virtues of frugality, and engage with the public in a way that did not involve signing autographs (a practice he hated). "I think it is easier," he said "to remember a lesson when we have some token to recall it by, something we can look at which reminds us of the idea."