At the MFAH we are using both: because it is a drop down, the Culture field is a convenient way of searching. In the Culture field, we are able to collocate like culture groups, e.g., Pre-Columbian, Maya Pre-Columbian, Mezcala Pre-Columbian, Mixtec Pre-Columbian, Moche But we also create constituent records for culture groups when there is no known artist, because this is what displays on gallery labels whenever Culture is displayed on a label. It is a little redundant, but no different from any other element where there is an indexed value and a displayed (label) value. We also populate the culture field for works with known artists. There are problems, I'll admit, when an artist's place of legal citizenship (nationality) differs from the place the artist was most productive (For example, Picasso is Spanish but he was prolific in France and very much influenced by French painters; he gave many pieces French titles.) Some artists have multiple nationalities, and there is no standard approach for how to populate the culture field in these instances. One might decide to input whatever is the preferred nationality in ULAN, or input all of the nationalities. If one puts all into the culture field, should one list them in alpha order so they collocate, or by the nationality which is most associated with the artist (in diminishing order), or by the nationality most closely associated with the object's provenance? It is very hard. CCO advises using this field when the artist is unknown. Emily Nedell Tuck Data Standards Manager Museum of Fine Arts, Houston P.O. Box 6826, Houston, TX 77265-6826 1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston, Texas 77005 (713) 353-1523 [log in to unmask] From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smith, Jeffrey Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:03 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Culture, Constituent or Both The Freer-Sackler creates constituent records for cultures - this way descriptive data can be added to each record, maps, archival images - all the tools of the constituents module, plus the Xref fields of prefix and suffix as modifiers. They are usually linked to objects with the role "Artist" when an individual is not known but the work of art is clearly representative of a culture, i.e. Ancient Chinese cultures. Having it as a constituent also means we can list all the alternate names, and in TMS2010 select the preferred name. We removed the actual "Culture" field because people had been using it too liberally. Constituent records have been a much better solution. From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chad Petrovay Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:35 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Culture, Constituent or Both We have yet to address cultures as constituents. Since the Culture field is just a text field, it has cause problems, in that some objects in our collection are shared by several cultures. We have this field set to display as a distinct list in queries, which was to help promote standardization on the demonyms entered. But we end up with "Igbo", "Yoruba, Igbo", and "Yoruba" all as separate entries. I'm liking the idea of using the constituents to help control these, but in some ways, I also wish that Culture field was both a controlled assistant and label field, the way that Medium, Dimensions, or ObjectName currently work. Chad Petrovay | Collections Database Administrator MIM-Musical Instrument Museum | 4725 E. Mayo Boulevard | Phoenix, AZ 85050 480.478.6000 main | 480.478.6058 direct | 480.471.8690 fax | www.themim.org Blog: www.petrovay.com/tmsblog From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Burke, Ashley Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 4:52 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Culture, Constituent or Both Hello TMS Users- I have a question for you all regarding the preferred placement of culture in TMS. Although there is a field for culture, I notice quite a lot of people will also insert the culture into the constituent field. For example, an Italian work that is unknown would have Italian in the culture field and then under constituent (object related) would be Unknown, Italian. What is the best option, culture only or both? One of my thoughts is that it might actually be better to have it in both places for exportation purposes. I would love to hear what other people are doing and the reasoning as to why you would choose one over the other. Thanks! Ashley Ashley Burke Associate Registrar The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art 5401 Bay Shore Rd. Sarasota, FL 34243 941-359-5700 ext. 1504 [log in to unmask] This e-mail is subject to the Sunshine Act and its contents may be subject to public disclosure.