Calendar
Traditionally, archival calendars contain summaries of individual documents arranged in chronological order. We have several calendars in the Archives, but the one we refer to as “the calendar” or “our calendar” contains descriptions of individual documents in nineteen different collections dating from 1576 to 1957, with the majority dating from the 1800s.
Searching the Calendar
Documents in the calendar do not appear in the general search results on our main page. You must specifically search the calendar database to view search results from the calendared collections. This may mean searching in two places – on our main search page and on the calendar database located here – to view the full extent of materials available to researchers relating to a particular individual or subject.
The calendar database can be searched in several ways. The researcher may browse individual documents by date or by author, or use the search box to enter keyword terms. The following example of a calendar entry demonstrates how the search results are formatted:
1758 Nov. 15[1]
Rochemore, Vincent Gaspard Pierre de, Chevalier, Councilor of the King in Council, Commissaire general of the Marine, Ordinateur of La.[2]
New Orleans, (Louisiana)[3]
Appoints Monsieur (Louis Alexandre) Dolaunay, church warden of the church of St. Louis in New Orleans to examine and finish the accounts of the old churchwardens and to examine old matters concerning the property of the same church.[4]
IV-4-a[5] A.D.S. 1p. 8vo. (French)[6]
3[7]
[1] Date of the Document
This can be either the date appearing in the text of the document or, in the absence of such, a date (in parentheses) based on some other evidence and supplied by those who calendared the document. A document dated simply by month and year appears before other documents for that month, and one dated simply by year appears before other documents for that year. In the case of a large dossier, set off by long horizontal lines, a date in this position indicates the date under which particular dossier will be found. Subsequent dates, set off by short horizontal lines, refer to documents within the dossier.
[2] Author of the Document
Parentheses indicate information supplied by the person who calendared the document. In the example, the signature "Dolaunay" appears on the original document and the archivist has supplied his Christian names.
[3] Point of Origin
Parentheses indicate information supplied by the person who calendared the document. In the example, the original document reads "New Orleans" and the archivist has supplied "Louisiana".
[4] Summary of the Text
Summarizes the content of the document. In the case of a document sent from one person to another, the name and geographical location of the recipient appear at the head of the summary.
[5] Location of the Document
Indicates where in the Notre Dame Archives this document will be found.
[6] Information about the Document
The nature of the document: the language in which it is written, the number of pages, and the size of those pages. The example is a signed autograph document, written in French, and consisting of one octavo size page. If the document is written in English, no language indication is shown. The abbreviation A.D. indicates an autograph document which is unsigned. D.S. indicates a signed document. A.L.S. indicates an autograph letter signed, A.L. indicates an autograph letter, and L.S. indicates a signed letter.
[7] Number of Cross References
The number of duplicate copies made of the calendar entry, filed in the card-catalog version of the calendar.
This page was last updated October 7, 2014