ARCHIVEGRIDArchiveGrid is a powerful tool that aggregates collection-level descriptions of materials held by over 1,000 archival institutions worldwide. It's important to remember that what you are searching across are the collection-level descriptions, not the full finding aids or descriptions of individual items within collections. This means that when you enter your search terms, the system will be looking for those terms in the collection name, the abstract (brief description of the collection), or in the subject headings or tags that have been associated with that collection.
It's also important to remember that there is no guarantee that any collection you locate via ArchiveGrid will be available digitally (some will, but most will not). Even so, this tool covers a significant body of material and has a well-designed, user-friendly interface. If you use the geographic filters, you may discover that a great collection that's perfect for your topic is reasonably nearby to school or home.
When you search in ArchiveGrid, I strongly suggest that you switch your results to "Summary View" rather than sticking with the default "List View." The Summary View lets you take full advantage of the many options for filtering and sorting the results. For basic search instructions from the creators of this tool, see https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/help/.
Once you find a collection that interests you, you'll need to leave ArchiveGrid to view the finding aid on whatever platform the holding institution uses. Typically, there is a direct link in the record, but sometimes you may need to locate the website of the institution and then search their holdings to locate the specific collection name or number.