SAADACS is the primary content standard used for describing archival materials in the United States, published by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). It provides an output-neutral, comprehensive set of rules applicable to archives, personal papers, and manuscript collections of any material type. As the U.S. implementation of the international standards ISAD(G) and ISAAR(CPF), DACS bridges international archival practice with American descriptive traditions.
Background
DACS was first published in 2004, replacing the earlier standard "Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts" (APPM) which had served the U.S. archival community since 1983. Where APPM was closely tied to the MARC cataloging format, DACS was designed from the outset to be output-neutral, meaning its rules could be applied regardless of the encoding or delivery system used. The standard has been revised multiple times, with the current version (2022.0.3.2) maintained openly on GitHub by the SAA Technical Subcommittee on DACS (TS-DACS).
Purpose & Scope
DACS addresses two fundamental aspects of archival description. Part I governs the description of archival materials themselves, while Part II provides rules for creating archival authority records that document the persons, families, and corporate bodies who created or are otherwise associated with archival materials. This dual structure reflects the principle that descriptions of records and descriptions of their creators are related but distinct activities.
Key Elements
Part I: Describing Archival Materials (Chapters 2-8)
| Chapter | Elements | Obligation |
|---|---|---|
| 2. Identity | Reference Code, Repository Name/Location, Title, Date, Extent, Name of Creator(s), Admin/Biographical History | Required (most) |
| 3. Content and Structure | Scope and Content, System of Arrangement | Required / Added Value |
| 4. Conditions of Access and Use | Access Conditions, Physical Access, Technical Access, Reproduction Conditions, Languages/Scripts, Finding Aids | Required / Added Value |
| 5. Acquisition and Appraisal | Custodial History, Source of Acquisition, Appraisal Info, Accruals | Added Value |
| 6. Related Materials | Location of Originals, Location of Copies, Related Materials, Publication Note | Added Value |
| 7. Notes | Notes | Added Value |
| 8. Description Control | Description Control, Rights Statements | Added Value / Required |
Part II: Archival Authority Records (Chapters 9-14)
Part II covers the authorized form of the name, type of entity, variant names, dates of existence, historical summary, places, legal status, functions, relationships to other entities, authority record management, and links to related archival materials.
Serializations & Technical Formats
DACS is output-neutral and does not prescribe a particular encoding format. In practice, DACS-compliant descriptions are commonly encoded in EAD (Encoded Archival Description) for finding aids, MARC 21 for catalog records, and EAC-CPF for authority records. The crosswalks in Appendix C map DACS elements to these encoding standards.
Governance & Maintenance
DACS is maintained by the SAA Technical Subcommittee on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (TS-DACS). The full text of the standard is published openly on GitHub Pages and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0). A PDF version (2019.0.3) is also available from the SAA. Changes are tracked via a public changelog and the GitHub repository, allowing community participation in the revision process.
Notable Implementations
DACS is the de facto standard for archival description across U.S. repositories, including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, university archives, and state historical societies. It is used in conjunction with ArchivesSpace, the leading open-source archival management system in North America, which implements DACS rules in its description templates.
Related Standards
- ISAD(G) -- the international archival description standard upon which DACS Part I is based
- ISAAR(CPF) -- the international authority record standard upon which DACS Part II is based
- EAD -- the XML encoding standard commonly used to encode DACS-compliant finding aids
- EAC-CPF -- the XML encoding standard for archival authority records
- RAD -- Rules for Archival Description, the Canadian equivalent of DACS