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On Tue, May 30, 2017 at 5:01 PM, Klauke, Michael <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Greetings, all –

 

I’m hoping someone may be able to help me with a problem we’re wrestling with.

 

Our collection is divided up into numerous Departments on TMS, two of those being “African” and “Modern/Contemporary.” We collect and have collected a good number of African objects, such as cloths, headrests…etc. But we also have begun collecting work by contemporary African artists. Up to this point, the contemporary African artists have been included in the “Modern/Contemporary” department. But that means if someone searches for African art in our collection, the search results will not include the contemporary African works.

 

We thought about creating a separate department of “Modern & Contemporary/African,” but then it seems like we would have to divide up all the Modern artists by geography, and then why not start dividing up all the earlier European art, etc.? At this point, that seems like a can of worms we’d prefer to leave unopened!

 

If anyone else has encountered a similar situation, I’d appreciate hearing how you dealt with it.

 

Many thanks, and feel free to respond off-list if you prefer.

 

Michael

 

 

Michael Klauke

Associate Registrar for Collections

North Carolina Museum of Art

4630 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-4630

Phone: 919.664.6822

Fax: 919.715.1860

 

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