The database hosts the description of the archival holdings held by the institutes involved in the project. These complementary collections allow the study of XX Century cultural, social and economic history and form an extraordinary repository of sources for this field of studies.
For every institute the database reflects the archival structure given to the papers and the degree of in depth-examination chosen for the description.
Participating institutes are not required to meet a standard to publish their collections on the network, and in some cases they can choose to describe only the fonds and the series and to invite scholars to access the papers directly in their archives.

Archival data can be retrieved by exploring the structure of individual collections to focus on the desired level of description. A special query also allows users to extract from the database all the collections and materials created by a given subject, whether an individual or an organization, held in different institutes or archives, virtually “recreating” document groups that had been fragmented and separated. Contrary to what happens to institutional fonds, sections of collections created by persons, private organizations, political parties and so on are frequently deposited with more than an institute, often as a consequence of biographical events.

The online project is continuously growing thanks to the efforts of the institutes involved and the professional work they carry on. Project evolution also benefits from the experience of the archivists and the requirements of the users.