Hello all, this is a belated note from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington--
The local authority in our TMS thesaurus contains a section called "Cultural Affiliation", which includes Native American tribal affiliations. We built this portion of our thesaurus years ago based on terminology from the Smithsonian Institution's Anthropological Archives. We have since added some new terms, but we have not made any major changes to the original schema. Below is a screenshot of this section of our thesaurus, with the Native American term expanded up to show narrower terms (but not expanded further to reveal additional sub-, sub-sub-, etc. terms.)
[cid:image001.png@01D076B1.FAF19650]
Perhaps this doesn't make as much sense for contemporary artists, but I thought it might be worth considering.
In terms of names, we enter the preferred name in Primary Name and all other possible names and spellings in Alternate Names, with name descriptions like "English Name" and "Native American Name". If a name does not have a First-Middle-Last format, we enter the whole thing in Last Name. We have generic constituent records for Unidentified Native American Artist, Unidentified Native American Man, Unidentified Native American Woman, Unidentified Native American Child, Unidentified Native American Infant and Unidentified Native American Group. That way we can search in the Objects Module on the constituent cultural affiliation term attribute to find all portraits of or by Native American sitters or artists.
Sorry I didn't chime in sooner, and hope this is helpful.
Sue
Sue Garton
Data Administrator
National Portrait Gallery
(202) 633-8554 | [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Day
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 6:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Native American contemporary artists
Hi Laetitia and Kay,
Our collection is almost entirely items made by Native American artists, so we've developed the following ways of taking care of these issues:
Names: Since many Native American artists have an English (or in this region, Spanish) name, a Native language name, and a translation of the Native language name, we had to find a way to track them all. We put the artist's preferred name (the one they go by) in the First, Last, Alpha Sort, and Display name. Their Native language name or English or Spanish name (whichever is the lesser-known or less-preferred name) goes in parentheses in the display field, next to the preferred name. The less-known name is also added to the Alternate names field, as is the translation of the Native language name, so that they will all come up when someone queries any version of the name. (See screen shot below, that will clarify a little.) For Native language names that don't have exactly a First, Last name situation, I just enter the whole name in the First name field (you could just as easily put it the Last, I suppose, as long as you're consistent). For example, the whole Tewa name "Awa Tsireh" goes in the First name field (as does the translation in the Alternate Names). In the Name Type field in the Alternate Names window you can make your own types so that you can track them in a way that makes sense to you. I've added "Native Language Name" and "English Translation Native Name" to the pull down menu for our records.
Culture/Nationality: We track the culture of manufacture for objects in the Culture field in the Objects module. We then track the culture of the maker in the Culture/Group field in the Constituents module. For example, we'll have a painting classified as "Pueblo | San Ildefonso" in the Culture field in the Object module. The corresponding Constituent record for the maker says "San Ildefonso Pueblo" in the Culture/Group field. (The reason why the contents of the fields look different is a subject in and of itself, probably not relevant to this discussion-in any case, you can query "San Ildefonso" for either field.) In order to make clear this constituent is a maker and is linked to related objects in the Object module, we put "Artist" in the Code field in the Constituent module. That way we can query for all of the makers from within any culture. (also see screen shot)
As for the issue of nationality, we haven't crossed that bridge yet. Since nearly everything in the collection was made by a Native American artists from the United States (with a small handful of exceptions), we haven't felt the need to enter anything in the Nationality field, with the exception of the few items made outside the United States. I've always felt a little ambivalent about it since I know some Native American people feel strongly about matters of sovereignty, so it's something I'd like to consult with knowledgeable people about first. On the other hand, if I had a collection with many nationalities represented, and therefore the need to track that, I think I might put "American" in that field just as a matter of practicality and then adjust as needed for individuals who might express disagreement with the designation.
Best,
Jennifer Day
Jennifer Day
Registrar, Indian Arts Research Center
School for Advanced Research
P.O. Box 2188
Santa Fe, NM 87504
Phone: 505-954-7205
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
[cid:image002.jpg@01D076B1.FAF19650]
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kay Johnson
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 1:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Native American contemporary artists
I'm also very interested in this as well. Currently we include Native American in the culture field for the associated objects, along with the artist's preferred tribal affiliation(s), but we are struggling with a consistent way of listing tribal affiliations in Constituents that is consistent with our historical Native American records.
Kay L. Johnson
Registrar
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Raiciulescu, Laetitia
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 2:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Native American contemporary artists
Hello,
I am curious as to how institutions are cataloguing Native American artists in Constituents. How do you parse the individual's name (Western name, tribal name translation and transliteration) in First, Last, Alphasort, etc.? Do these go in separate fields, or in the same field separated by commas? What about the tribal affiliation? Would "American" be appropriate in Nationality, if tribe is addressed in Culture? Or make no mention of American (Native American or American Indian) and assign the Native nation in Nationality (e.g. Navajo), and the tribe in Culture (e.g. Diné)? We have several living artists we need to catalog for a current exhibition.
Your input is much appreciated. Feel free to contact me directly if easier.
Many thanks,
Laetitia
Laetitia Raiciulescu
Associate Collection Information Specialist
Digital Media Department
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028
T. (212) 650-2468
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To unsubscribe, send an email to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> with the following commands in the body of the email:
signoff TMSUSERS
// eoj
You will receive a confirmation that your subscription has been removed.
To unsubscribe, send an email to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> with the following commands in the body of the email:
signoff TMSUSERS
// eoj
You will receive a confirmation that your subscription has been removed.
To unsubscribe, send an email to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> with the following commands in the body of the email:
signoff TMSUSERS
// eoj
You will receive a confirmation that your subscription has been removed.
To unsubscribe, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following commands in the body of the email:
signoff TMSUSERS
// eoj
You will receive a confirmation that your subscription has been removed.