AHG Archives

Read an authority record (a person, family or organisation) by its slug.

List the descriptions directly below one record (for example the series in a fonds).

Return the IIIF manifest URL for a record's images, for viewing in a IIIF viewer.

Read one archival description in full, by its slug (the last part of its URL). Includes dates, names, subjects, places, notes and, where the catalogue provides them, its place in the hierarchy, its number of children, images, and its provenance chain (owners, dates, transfers, certainty, gaps).

Look at a record's image: returns the reference image itself, so you can describe what it shows, read inscriptions or labels, or judge its condition. Use it before proposing a description for a record whose own text is thin. Only images the caller may view are returned (the reference copy, never the master). Say what you saw and what you inferred, and treat inscriptions you cannot read clearly as uncertain. Where the catalogue states rights (OpenRiC Workspace, AtoM with the AHG Extensions, Heratio), each result carries rights: RightsStatements.org statements, Creative Commons licences, what may be done (PREMIS acts: allow, disallow, conditional) and Local Contexts labels. Follow them when you quote or reuse anything, and say what they are. A file whose labels ask for no reuse (TK Secret/Sacred, Community Use Only, Women or Men Restricted), or that may not be shown, is withheld: it is not given to you, and you should not try to describe or obtain it another way.

Read the text held for a record's files: text extracted from a PDF or by OCR, and transcriptions of audio or video. Use it for documents, where reading the text beats looking at a small image. Long text comes in pages: if a result says more=true, call again with offset set to offset + the length you received. Personal information may be masked. Quote what you rely on when you propose changes. Where the catalogue states rights (OpenRiC Workspace, AtoM with the AHG Extensions, Heratio), each result carries rights: RightsStatements.org statements, Creative Commons licences, what may be done (PREMIS acts: allow, disallow, conditional) and Local Contexts labels. Follow them when you quote or reuse anything, and say what they are. A file whose labels ask for no reuse (TK Secret/Sacred, Community Use Only, Women or Men Restricted), or that may not be shown, is withheld: it is not given to you, and you should not try to describe or obtain it another way.

The catalogues this service can search and read. Proposals go to the home catalogue only.

List the proposals you made and what became of them, newest first. Each shows the record, the name, place, date or field text proposed, and its status: pending, approved, edited, linked (to an authority record), rejected, new_record_created or parked (condition flags: confirmed or dismissed), with who reviewed it and when. Check it before proposing for a record, and do not propose again what was rejected. Needs the archivist's own staff key.

Propose access points (people, organisations, places) and dates for one record. Read the record with get_record first. Propose only what its text, or a reliable source you name, supports; give the evidence and source URLs for each. For a person or organisation, also give dates_of_existence, a short history and places when the record or a source states them: they pre-fill the new authority record if the archivist creates one. Look names and places up with search_authorities first; when one is already in the catalogue, give its id as existing_id and why in link_reason, and the archivist sees it as the first candidate to link. Nothing on the record changes: an archivist reviews every proposal. On AtoM with the AHG extensions they are queued in AI > NER review; on stock AtoM they are returned for the archivist to apply. Needs the archivist's own staff key.

Flag the physical condition of a record's item, for a conservator to confirm or dismiss. Use it for damage or deterioration you can see on the record's image (get_record_image): tears, stains, foxing, fading, losses, mould. note says what you saw and where, plainly; it is required. grade is an overall condition such as "good", "fair" or "poor", and damages list what is wrong; give a grade, damages or both. Only flag what the image shows; say so when the image is too small or unclear to judge. Nothing on the record changes: on Heratio the flag waits under AI > Condition as an unconfirmed assessment. Needs the archivist's own staff key.

Propose new text for one field of a record, for an archivist to review. text is the complete proposed text for the field, not a fragment: read the record with get_record first and keep what is right in the current text. For a title, propose the title only (at most 1,024 characters). Give the evidence and the URLs of any web sources. Nothing on the record changes: on AtoM with the AHG extensions the proposal is queued in AI > Suggest review, where the archivist can edit it before approving; on stock AtoM it is returned for the archivist to apply. Needs the archivist's own staff key.

Propose relationships between people or organisations that a record states, such as a marriage or parent and child in a family register. Each side must be an existing authority record (give its id from search_authorities) or a person or organisation you have already proposed for this record with propose_access_points_and_dates. Give the line that states each relationship as evidence. An archivist reviews them in AI > Relationship review; approved ones show on both authority records. Needs the archivist's own staff key.

Propose a transcription of a record's file, such as a scanned page with no text. Look at the page with get_record_image first and transcribe what is written, line by line, in its own language and spelling; mark what you cannot read as [illegible] rather than guessing. Use get_record_text to see whether the file already has text. digital_object_id picks the file when a record has several. At most 65,000 bytes: propose a long document page by page. An archivist compares it with the page image in AI > Suggest review; once approved it is the file's text and is searchable. Needs the archivist's own staff key.

Propose a translation of one field of a record into another language. language is the target language code, e.g. "en", "af" or "nl". Translate the record's current text for that field faithfully (read it with get_record); keep names, dates and reference codes as they are. An archivist reviews it in AI > Suggest review next to any text already held in that language; once approved the record shows it in that language. Needs the archivist's own staff key.

Read a record as Records in Contexts (RiC-O 1.1 JSON-LD): its RiC type, title, dates, creators, subjects, holder, and the record it is part of and its parts, each with a link you can follow with get_record or ric_query. Use it to see how a record sits in its fonds or series, or to give its description in the ICA's RiC model. Only what the caller may see is listed: unpublished or restricted parts are left out, not marked. A record with redacted fields is refused here; read it with get_record, which applies the redaction. Files are not included: use get_record_text or get_record_image. Heratio only; on OpenRiC every get_record answer is already RiC.

Find existing authority records (people, organisations, families) or places by name. Every word must appear in the name, in any order, so "Hendrik Engelbrecht" also finds "Engelbrecht, Hendrik". Use it before proposing a name or place: when one of the results is the same person, organisation or place, pass its id as existing_id in propose_access_points_and_dates, so the archivist links the existing record instead of creating a new one.

Search archival descriptions (fonds, series, files, items) by keyword. Returns title, level of description and the citable URL of each match. Use get_record on a result for the full description. catalogue: leave empty for the home catalogue, give a name from list_catalogues, or "all" to search every catalogue at once (results grouped by catalogue). Every read tool takes the same catalogue; read a result with the catalogue it came from.

Work through every record below a parent (for example each page of a family Bible), a batch at a time, with a running summary of what you proposed where. Returns a batch of the parent's children, each with your proposals on it so far by status, the totals for the whole batch, how many proposals you may still make this hour, and next_skip for the next batch (null when done). For each child: read it (get_record, and get_record_text or get_record_image when its text is thin), skip it when your proposals there are still pending, propose, then move on. Call again with skip=next_skip until it is null. When get_record shows a child has children of its own, work through it the same way.