In archival science, a fonds (plural also fonds) is a group of documents that share the same origin and have occurred naturally as an outgrowth of the daily workings of an agency, individual, or organization.[1] An example of a fonds could be the writings of a poet that were never published, or the records of an institution during a specific period.
Fonds are a part of a hierarchical level of description system in an archive that begins with fonds at the top. Subsequent levels become more descriptive and narrower as one goes down the hierarchy. The level descriptions go from fonds to series to file and then item level. Between the fonds and series level there is sometimes a sub-fonds (French: sous-fonds) level, and between the series and file level there is sometimes a sub-series level.[2][3]