ISAARCFP

ISAAR(CPF) stands for International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families. It is an international archival standard established by the International Council on Archives (ICA). The standard provides guidelines for creating authority records that identify and describe corporate bodies, persons, and families to enable consistent access to archival material across repositories and catalogs.

Purpose and scope: ISAAR(CPF) enables the control of access and the disambiguation of names in archival descriptions. It supports authority data used in descriptions, catalogues, and discovery tools, and works in conjunction with ISAD(G) to provide a comprehensive framework for describing archival sources. The standard covers three entity types: corporate bodies (institutions, companies, agencies), persons (creators, subjects, authors), and families, including related entities and entities’ relationships.

Structure and key elements: Each authority record typically includes an identity statement (preferred name, variant names, dates of activity or life, place associated), other terms or qualifiers, and biographical or historical notes. It also records relationships to other entities (member of, founder of, successor of), functions or occupations, relevant dates, and sources of information. The record may include scope notes, see-also references, and notes on sources and provenance to support identification and linking with archival descriptions.

Implementation and formats: ISAAR(CPF) data can be encoded in EAC-CPF (Encoded Archival Context for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families) XML, and is also represented in MARC 21 authority records and other cataloging formats used in archives and libraries. The standard is maintained by the ICA and updated periodically.

See also: ISAD(G); EAC-CPF; archival authority control.