How to Create a Multilingual Finding Aid for a Theatre Archive

What a multilingual finding aid is — and is not

A finding aid is the descriptive guide that explains what an archival collection contains, how it is arranged, who created it, and how it can be consulted. In a theatre archive it may describe scripts, prompt books, production photographs, design drawings, programmes, contracts, correspondence, rehearsal notes, recordings, surtitle files and ephemera. A multilingual finding aid makes that description accessible in more than one language, while also recording the languages and scripts found in the records themselves.

Those are two separate decisions. A guide can be bilingual even when most of the collection is in one language; equally, a collection can be multilingual while its finding aid is published only in English. The first question concerns the language of description — the language in which the guide is written. The second concerns the languages and scripts of the material — the languages used by the creators and recorded in the archive. Confusing the two is the most common conceptual error in multilingual archival projects.

Start with purpose, users and a written language policy

Before commissioning any translation, state why the guide is being made multilingual and who it is for. A theatre company may want touring partners to consult its production records; a national archive may want diaspora communities to find recordings and scripts; a university repository may need to support students who read the original language but not the institutional description language. These purposes imply different priorities.

A useful language policy records: the primary language of description; any additional languages; the level at which translation will be provided (collection-level only, series-level, file-level or selected item titles); how original titles and names will be represented; who approves terminology; and how future updates will be handled. The policy need not promise a fully symmetrical bilingual catalogue. It should make limits explicit, so that users and staff understand what has and has not been translated.

Capacity matters. A small theatre archive may reasonably begin with a bilingual collection-level description, a translated scope and content note, and a glossary of key production terms. A larger repository may plan full parallel descriptions. What matters is that the decision is documented and reviewed, rather than emerging piecemeal through ad hoc translation.

Survey the collection’s languages and scripts

Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) treats languages and scripts of the material as a required element. DACS 4.5 asks archivists to identify the language(s), script(s) and symbol systems employed in the materials being described, particularly where they affect use, and to derive that information from the materials themselves. For theatre collections, that means looking beyond the language of the main script. A production file might contain a playscript in one language, rehearsal notes in another, a touring contract in a third, and a recording of a devised performance that uses several languages or no spoken language at all.

Build a simple language survey before writing the description. For each collection or series, record:

• the main language(s) and script(s) of textual records;
• the presence of translations, adaptations, surtitles or subtitles;
• the language(s) of audio-visual recordings and any accompanying transcripts;
• the language(s) of production credits, programmes, press materials and administrative records;
• non-textual symbol systems, such as notation, design drafting conventions or captioned movement scores, where relevant.

Do not assume that a country, city or company equals a single language. A theatre archive in one city may hold material in several community languages, and a touring production may generate records in every stop on its route. Record what the materials show; where the evidence is incomplete, say so at the appropriate level.

Record the language of description correctly

The language of description is a metadata field in its own right. MIT Libraries’ archives processing manual notes that the field is optional in ArchivesSpace and EAD but should always be added for interoperability and equity purposes. It recommends recording the main language and script of description, adding further languages where a significant amount of the description is in another language. The manual also points to ISO 639-2 three-letter language codes and ISO 15924 script codes for machine-readable encoding.

Use sentence-form notes as well as codes. A clear statement such as ‘Finding aid in English; collection materials mainly in Spanish, with some English correspondence’ is more useful to readers than a code alone, while the codes support system-level discovery and exchange.

Build a translation and review workflow

Translation is not a single step appended to cataloguing. It is a workflow with roles, versions and sign-off. A workable sequence for a modest theatre archive is:

1. Freeze the source description. Agree which text is ready for translation and which is still under revision.
2. Extract translatable strings. Separate fixed metadata, controlled terms, titles and free-text notes so that each can be handled appropriately.
3. Create a bilingual glossary. Include theatre-specific terms such as dramaturg, prompt book, rehearsal room, surtitle, devised work, commissioning, touring and venue, with agreed equivalents and brief definitions.
4. Translate with context. Give the translator the collection description, sample records and any relevant production history, not just isolated phrases.
5. Review bilingually. A second reader should compare source and target for meaning, tone and terminology. Where possible, include a theatre practitioner, dramaturg or researcher who knows the production context.
6. Reconcile names and titles. Check that people, companies, venues and works are represented consistently across languages.
7. Record decisions. Note unresolved terms, preferred variants and the date of approval.
8. Version the translation. If the source description changes, the target text must be reviewed again.

Machine translation can support a first draft for internal understanding, but it should not be published as archival description without expert review. Names, historical terminology and theatrical jargon are especially prone to misleading renderings.

Handle names, titles and theatre-specific vocabulary

Theatre archives are full of titles that travel badly. A play may have an original title, a published translation title, a literal translation used in programmes, and a later retranslation. Record the original title in its original script, add a transliteration where needed, and give the established English or other translated title only when it is supported by a programme, published edition or other record. Do not present a literal translation as an official title.

For personal and company names, retain the form used by the person or organisation, add variants and transliterations, and link them consistently to authority records where available. For production credits, preserve the credited role rather than silently converting it to an approximate local equivalent. A note can explain that ‘dramaturg’ in one context may involve script development, research or production support, rather than assuming a single international meaning.

Rights and consent need attention when translating quotations from scripts, correspondence, interviews or recorded performance. Translating a short descriptive phrase is one thing; reproducing or translating an extended script excerpt may require permission from the rights holder. Follow the repository’s rights policy and document any restrictions in the finding aid.

Encode, publish and test

Encode the description in EAD or manage it in ArchivesSpace, using the dedicated language fields rather than burying the information in a general note. Publish in a format that supports search and browsing in the languages you have chosen. If the repository can provide a bilingual interface, align the translated description with it; if not, make the language note prominent and explain how users can request further information.

Documented projects offer useful models. Arizona State University created English and Spanish finding aids for six collections processed as part of a Council on Library and Information Resources grant; the published case study describes building a Spanish finding aid template, translating, encoding and publishing the guides, and analysing their use. Florida International University’s 2022 project on multilingual finding aids notes that English-only description can lead non-English speakers to underuse collections that are themselves multilingual. Neither project is a theatre-specific template, but both show why the work should be planned as an access service, not merely a translation task.

Test the published guide with real users or colleagues: can they find the collection in both languages, understand the language note, distinguish original titles from translations, and tell whether a recording or script is in a language they read? Revise the description and the interface in response.

Maintain the guide and learn from use

A multilingual finding aid is a living document. Record the languages of new accruals, update the language note when a collection is rearranged, and review translated terminology when a production is restaged or a new translation becomes standard. Keep a change log, and make one person responsible for coordinating updates across languages.

Finally, treat use as evidence. If the translated guide is not consulted, the problem may be discovery, interface design, terminology or outreach rather than the translation itself. A short survey or analytics review can show whether the multilingual description is reaching the intended readers, provided that privacy and data-protection requirements are respected.

Practical checklist

• Write a language policy: primary language, additional languages, level of translation and review responsibility.
• Separate language of description from languages of the material in your metadata plan.
• Survey scripts, recordings, surtitles, programmes and administrative records for language and script.
• Use DACS 4.5 for languages and scripts of the material and record language of description in ArchivesSpace or EAD.
• Apply ISO 639-2 and ISO 15924 codes alongside clear sentence-form notes.
• Build a bilingual glossary of theatre and production terms.
• Commission translation with context and require bilingual review.
• Preserve original titles, credits and names; label translations and transliterations.
• Check rights and consent before translating extended quotations.
• Publish, test with users, and maintain a version history across languages.

The goal is not a word-for-word replica in another language. It is a finding aid that lets a director, translator, student or researcher understand what exists, what language it is in, and how to ask for it — across the borders that theatre archives are meant to cross.