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
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