Personal and family fonds of the Archive of the University of Coimbra – starting point for questions and reflections

Abstract

Taking as its starting point the personal and family fonds existing in the Archive of the University of Coimbra (AUC), this article discusses the importance of these fonds and the specificity resulting from the natural character inherent to their creator. We will also discuss the methodology of analysis and the management to which they must be submitted, in order to preserve their structure and to reveal, through the description, their production context. In the course of this analysis, we also want to approach the questions and reflections which often cloud/challenge the mind of the archivist in the course of the identification and organization of the fonds and in their dissemination.