Encoded Archival Description

Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is a standard for encoding descriptive information regarding archival records. Unlike bibliographic systems designed for published materials, EAD provides a hierarchical framework for describing unique archival collections that share common origins and intellectual relationships. The standard enables archives, libraries, museums, and historical societies to create machine-readable finding aids that facilitate discovery of geographically distributed primary source materials.

The Library of Congress and Society of American Archivists jointly maintain EAD, which has evolved through multiple versions since its initial 1998 release. EAD 2002 introduced XML formatting, while EAD3 (released August 2015 and revised in 2018) enhanced accessibility and interoperability with other systems. The standard's element set aligns with archival content standards including DACS and ISAD(G), enabling flexible mapping to related metadata frameworks like MARC and Dublin Core.

EAD adoption spans institutions worldwide, accommodating detailed multi-level inventories that reflect archival provenance principles while supporting sophisticated access mechanisms for researchers seeking primary sources across institutional boundaries.