I'm in the process of updating our object Date data standards and am interested in the answer to Rupert's question as well!

Frances

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Topics of the day:

  1. Pre-Gregorian dates

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Date:    Thu, 25 Oct 2018 10:30:32 +0000
From:    "Shepherd, Rupert" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Pre-Gregorian dates

Dear colleagues

My apologies for this particularly pedantic enquiry.

I'm starting to use the Events module to record historic events related to our paintings - battles, treaties, and so on. Some of these took place before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. The Events module stores event dates using the ISO 8601 format. Looking at the Wikipedia entry<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601> for the standard, it notes that

"ISO calendar dates before [20 May 1875] are still compatible with the Gregorian calendar all the way back to the official introduction of the Gregorian calendar on 1582-10-15. Earlier dates, in the proleptic Gregorian calendar<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proleptic_Gregorian_calendar>, may be used by mutual agreement of the partners exchanging information. The standard states that every date must be consecutive, so usage of the Julian calendar<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar> would be contrary to the standard (because at the switchover date, the dates would not be consecutive)."

My question is: how are you entering Julian calendar dates into TMS ISO date fields? (This would apply to dates of creation, constituent dates, etc.,  as well as to event dates.)

For example, I currently have the Battle of San Romano<https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/paolo-uccello-the-battle-of-san-romano> entered as 1 June 1432, which I'm pretty sure is its Julian calendar date; but in the proleptic Gregorian calendar (which projects the Gregorian calendar back to dates beyond its adoption) this would be 10 June 1432.

I'd be interested to know who's adhering to the letter of ISO 8601, and who's just recording Julian dates in an ISO 8601-like format. And, if you're using proleptic Gregorian dates - are you also recording the corresponding Julian dates anywhere, and if so, where?

Best wishes

Rupert

Rupert Shepherd, PhD FSA
Collection Information Manager
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Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 5921

[The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN]<http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk>
[Mantegna and Bellini]<https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/mantegna-and-bellini>

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End of TMSUSERS Digest - 24 Oct 2018 to 25 Oct 2018 (#2018-126)
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