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Here are ours, including the guidelines and definitions.  We revamped these a few years ago; as you can see, I tend to err on the side of too much explanation, so apologies for the length.  Good luck!

 

Classifications Definition: The placement of an object within a formal scheme that groups works together on the basis of similar characteristics. Classifications organize the collection into general groups and serve as a basic, top-level retrieval for classes of objects. Terms and their definitions reflect the makeup of SLAM’s collections, while referencing standard vocabulary sources.

 

Options of Classifications fall under three main types:

Multiple Classification terms may be assigned to each object. In general, an object’s function should be considered the primary distinguishing factor. In cases where multiple classifications are used, the function classification should be listed first. 

 

Classifications

Definition

Examples

Appliances & Electronics

Devices used in a domestic context that facilitate such tasks as food preparation, food storage, cleaning and grooming; objects powered by electricity that perform a specific function

Sintax Coffee Maker
Table Fan

Architectural Elements

Forms, structural or decorative, developed originally or primarily as components of architecture, ether exterior (architraves, stained glass, etc.) or interior (fireplace mantels, paneling, etc.); often adapted to other habitable spaces or borrowed or imitated for structural or decorative use on other objects

Capital Column
House Post
Charlton House (Georgian Room)

Arms & Armor

Protective costume or costume elements, for humans or animals, designed to be worn or carried to protect the body in combat; implements or mechanisms used for defense or attack in combat, hunting or war

Suit of Armor
Shield
Axes

Basketry

Artifacts made by the technique of weaving twigs, rushes, thin strips of wood, or other flexible materials together

Basket with Lid
Carrying Basket

Bone & Shell

Artifacts made of or primarily featuring animal bones, shells, mother-of-pearl, etc.

Oracle Bone
Powder Horn

Books & Manuscripts

Collections of wood or ivory tablets, sheets of paper, parchment or similar material that are blank, written on, or printed, and are strung or bound together; single sheets of paper or parchment that were once bound; hand-written documents; unpublished sets of pages, bound or loose-leaf, with materials affixed to them or writing or other images made on them

Page from an Antiphonal
Ancient Egyptian Papyrus
Babylonian Clay Tablet

Calligraphy

Works composed primarily of beautiful, elegant letters or flourishes that are typically created by hand with a pen, either in unjoined characters or in cursive writing; often the display of Chinese characters or Arabic writing

Hanging Scroll with Calligraphy
Folded Fan with Chinese Poem

Ceramics

Objects made primarily from ceramic material (non-mineral substance such as clay, fired at a high temperature); when possible, cross-classify with the object’s function

Set of 18 tiles
Amphora
Tea Jar

Coins & Currency

Anything in circulation serving as a medium of exchange, payment for goods and services and the settlement of debts, and passes without question or endorsement; pieces of metal stamped by a government authority for use as money

Tetradrachm
Shell Money
1838 U.S. Coin

Collages & Montages

Works produced by the technique of collage (making compositions in two dimensions or very low relief by gluing paper, fabrics, photographs, or other materials onto a flat surface; works produced by the technique of montage (making compositions from portions of existing images, such as drawings or photographs, arranged into somewhat unified images)

Summertime (collage on board)
Peter Wilson, the Auctioneer Owl (postage stamps recombined on paper)

Containers

Objects used to hold substances or other objects; included are containers intended for culinary use, horticultural use, for health care, hygiene, and similar personal needs as well as containers associated with liturgical, funerary, and other ceremonial activities

Wine Cellaret
Zoomorphic Vessel
Punch Bowl

Costume & Clothing

Objects worn or carried for warmth, protection, embellishment, or for symbolic purposes; included are garments considered as main items of dress (shirts, trousers, etc.); also items of protective wear, uniforms, vestments and other ceremonial garments, and any accessories that are carried or worn on the body, such as masks or other headgear

Asante Man’s Wrapper
Zoomorphic Mask
Woman’s Court Robes

Coverings & Hangings

Artifacts, usually flexible, often textiles, used to cover or conceal interior spaces, surfaces, or furnishings, especially for protection, warmth, or embellishment

Pair of Chair Covers
‘Princess Feather’ Quilt
Mejidiye Prayer Carpet

Drawings & Watercolors

Images produced by drawing, which is the application of lines on a surface, often paper, by using a pencil, pen, chalk, or some other tracing instrument to focus on the delineation of form rather than the application of color; two-dimensional works of art, usually on a paper support, to which pigment suspended in water or another binding agent to create an image or design

Study for Mississippi Noah (graphite, charcoal, ink and wash on paper)
Woman in Armchair (graphite on tracing paper)

Enamels

Works created with enamel, an opaque vitreous coating, composed chiefly of quartz, feldspar, clay, soda, and borax, and applied by fusion to surfaces, especially of metal, ceramic, or glass, and which has a glossy appearance upon hardening

Adoration, Scene from the Life of Christ
Ming vase with cloisonné enamel

Fiber Art

Works, generally created after about 1945, that are composed primarily of fibrous materials and are intended as works of art

The Evolving Tapestry: Blue, Sheila Hicks

Frames

Cases or structures that surround or enclose such items as works of art, mirrors, or documents, serving as support, protection, or to call attention, whilst leaving the items visible

largely used for non-artwork frames in storage

Furniture

Objects created to answer the physical requirements and comforts of people in their living and working spaces, such as tables, chairs, beds, desks, wardrobes, bookcases, etc.

Mirror
Side Chair
Writing Desk

Glassware

Visual works made of or primarily of glass, especially (but not limited to) tableware

Vase
Chandelier

Installations

Works dating from the 20th century through to the present, particularly the 1960s and later, that use their exhibition space as part of their design; often created to demand a viewer’s active engagement

‘Taking Pictures’ by Janet Cardiff

Ivories

Objects carved in ivory or from natural substances resembling ivory, such as bone; when possible, cross-classify with the object’s function

Netsuke
Snuff Box

Jades

Sculptures, containers, and other objects and artifacts carved in jade, which is any of several varieties of fine-grained rock composed of jadeite, nephrite, serpentine, or other mineralogically-related materials; when possible, cross-classify with the object’s function

Pendant
Incense Burner
Double-Vase

Jewelry & Personal Accessories

Ornaments such as bracelets, necklaces, and rings, or of precious or semi-precious materials worn or carried on the person for adornment; artifacts carried or worn by an individual for personal use, such as a wallet, purse, fan, parasol, cane or eyeglasses

Bow Fibulae
Bird Pendant
Hair Winding Ornament

Lacquerware

Objects, usually made of thin wood, which have been coated and decorated with lacquer applied in several coats; this dries to a very hard and smooth surface which is durable and waterproof. Lacquerware may be further decorated with pictures, inlaid with shells, mother-of-pearl, metal and other materials, carved, dusted with gold, or given further decorative treatments.

Circular Box
Qalamdan (Pen Box)
Noh Dancer’s Mask

Lighting

Objects, fixed or portable, whose primary purpose is to produce artificial light; artifacts created to provide illumination

Torchere
Oil Lamp

Masks

Coverings for all or part of the face, usually with openings for the eyes and sometimes the mouth; worn to hide or alter the identity of the wearer or for protection; may be associated with religious or cultural ceremonies or with funerary customs, fertility rites or curing sickness; may also be used on festive occasions or to portray characters in performance

Theater Mask
Cartonnage Mummy Mask
Lewa Mask

Medals & Medallions

Objects, usually but not always metal, that bear a relief design on one or both sides and have a commemorative purpose; such objects are not used as money or as a medium of exchange

Medallion: Apollo Belvedere
Anti-Slavery Medallion

Media Arts

Pieces created using applications of process, media, and materials, including photographic, multimedia, videotape, video installations, film and other works created in moving image or image reproduction media

‘World Peace (Received)’ (video discs, monitors, video disc players, remote control)
Government Cut Freestyle (16 mm film transferred to DVD)

Metalwork

Visual works that are the products of working any kind of metal, particularly metal objects of artistic merit. This can also include tableware.

Madonna and Child
Standing Amitabha Buddha

Miniature Paintings

Paintings on a very small scale; often applied specifically to small scenes in illuminated manuscripts or to portraits on vellum or ivory that were popular in Europe and America from the Renaissance into the 19th century

Box Lid, Lady in White Shawl
Colonel Langenam

Mixed Media

Term for works of art made of any combination of a variety of materials, plus the associated techniques

Landscape Study No. 11 (casein on paper)
Fish and Sky (screenprint on gelatin silver print with lenticular offset lithograph)

Models & Maquettes

Scaled representations of objects, structures, beings or other subjects, usually three-dimensional; small, rough, three-dimensional sketches for sculpture

Model of a Rug-Weaving Loom
Maquette for Sculpture Screen at Lambert-Saint Louis Airport Terminal

Musical Instruments

Sound-producing apparatuses whose primary function is to play music

Clarinet
Flute
Harpsichord

Paintings

Unique works in which images are formed by the direct application of pigments suspended in oil, water, egg yolk, molten wax, or other liquid, arranged in masses of color, onto a generally two-dimensional surface

Danaë
Water Lilies
Number 3, 1950

Photographs

Still images produced from radiation-sensitive materials (sensitive to light, electron beams, or nuclear radiation), generally by means of the chemical action of light on a sensitive film, paper, glass or metal; also, still images produced by digital means. Photographs may be positive or negative, opaque or transparent.

Clearing Winter Storm
The Horrors of War
Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Untitled (Woman in Snow)

Posters

Notices, usually decorative or pictorial, intended to be posted to advertise, promote or publicize an activity, cause, product or service; also: decorative, mass-produced prints intended for hanging

Havana Larrañaga Cigars
Exposition Vallauris
What to Eat

Printmaking & Photographic Equipment

Equipment specifically used in the process of making images or text on prints; a broad array of equipment that aids the purpose of capturing images photographically, including cameras, darkroom equipment, and any ancillary objects used specifically to capture and process these images

The Crucifixion (woodblock)
plate for Compositional Study No. III

Prints

Pictorial works, including facsimiles, that were produced by transferring images by means of a matrix such as a plate, block, or screen, using any of the many printing processes, such as engraving, etching, aquatint, lithography, etc.

Jean Pierre Camus
Here is a good one!
The Battle at Gaiping

Recreational Artifacts

Equipment and accessories used in a large array of activities engaged in for personal satisfaction or amusement during leisure time; included are playthings, personal fitness equipment, and other devices used as pastimes or during competitive play

Cribbage Board
Gaming Stone (‘ulumaika)
Doll’s Rocking Chair

Sculpture

Three-dimensional works of art with defined edges and boundaries in which images and forms are produced in relief, in intaglio, or in the round; refers particularly to artworks created by carving or engraving a hard metal, by molding or casting a malleable material (which then hardens), or by assembling parts to create a three-dimensional object

Relief of the Annunciation
Immortal (porcelain figurine)
The Russian Beggar Woman

Stone & Mineral

Objects made of stone (rock which has been cut, shaped, crushed, or otherwise dressed for use in construction or other purposes) or another kind of mineral; when possible, cross-classify with the object’s function

Bowl
Urn

Textiles

Two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects made of textile materials (those produced by weaving, felting, knotting, twining, etc. natural or synthetic fibers so that they cohere into a form or unit; frequently cross-classified with Costumes & ClothingCoverings & Hangings, or Fiber Arts

Handkerchief
Band of Silk
Embroidered Panel

Timepieces & Measuring Devices

Devices for measuring and recording the passage of time; instruments or containers that measure, for example, extent, quantity, capacity, mass or position, in terms of a standard unit or fixed amount

Table Clock
Pocket Sundial and Compass
Planispheric Astrolabe

Tools & Equipment

Objects, especially those hand-held, that are used to process materials and fabricate items, as well as objects associated with activities and disciplines in the construction industry, design professions, the fine and decorative arts, and other aspects of material culture

Pestle
Weaving Comb
Awl-like Tool

Wood

Objects made of the principal tissue of trees and other plants that provides both strength and a means of conducting nutrients for these trees or plants; when possible, cross-classify with the object’s function

Carreta de la Muerte
Malagan Figure
Akan Crown

 

 

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Hamutal Gabayev BLMJ
Sent: Wednesday, August 3, 2022 12:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Sharing your Classifications value list?

 

EXTERNAL | This email originated from outside the organization. Please do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

External Email - Exercise Caution

As an archaeological museum, we have the classifications for our specific contents, and they are being used to support topic related queries.

We added the sub-class. Work on Paper when we received a huge donation of, well, works on paper.

Some class. were created way back before TMS, to call up groups for a certain planned exhibition (Magic, Animal, Lighting…), and the staff still find them useful.

 

I’m sure some cleanup could be done, I could think about dividing Vessel into sub-class. (instead of using Object Name for types of vessels), but all in all we’re pretty happy with the list

 

 

(not assigned)

Amulet

Animal

Applique

Archival

Bead

Body Ornament

Book

Clothing

Clothing Ornament

Construction

Cosmetic appliance

Cultic

Cultic figurine

Currency

Ethnography

Figurine

Figurine mold

Finial

Fruit

Funerary

Furniture

Furniture filler

Game

Gem

Idol

Inlay

Inscription

Jewelry

Judaica

Lighting

Magic

Mask

Miniature

Model

Mold

Mosaic

Musical Instrument

Organic material

Ornament

Other

Painting

Plaque

Relief

Religion

Replica

Ritual

Scarab

Scroll

Sculpture

Seal

Seal impression

Seal/weight

Sealing

Stamp

Standard / Scepter

Statue

Statuette

Stele

Textile

Token

Tool

Transport

Utensil

Vessel

Wall painting

Weapon

Weights and measures

Work on Paper

Photograph

Print

Map

Drawing

Book Page

Manuscript

Stereograph

 

 

חמוטל גבייב | רשמת
מוזיאון ארצות המקרא ירושלים

Hamutal Gabayev | Registrar
Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem

[T] 972-2-5955329  [E] [log in to unmask]

שמואל סטפן וייז 21, ירושלים  21 Shmuel Stefan Wise, Jerusalem

 

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Chad Petrovay
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2022 21:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Sharing your Classifications value list?

 

External Email - Exercise Caution

Our values are inherited from our ILS, and utilize 

  • (not assigned)
  • Analytic
  • Archival and manuscripts control
  • Archival Collection
  • Article
  • Binding
  • Book
  • Box or Folder
  • Broadside
  • Collage
  • Component
  • Contact Sheet
  • Drawing
  • Ephemera
  • Frame
  • Furnishings
  • Lantern Slide
  • Manuscript
  • Manuscript Folio
  • Map
  • Microform
  • Miniature Book
  • Music Manuscript
  • Music Manuscript in Larger Item
  • Object
  • Offprint
  • Painting
  • Periodical
  • Photograph
  • Print
  • Printed Book
  • Printed Music
  • Recorded Music
  • Sculpture
  • Seal
  • Seal Impression
  • Sound Recording
  • Textile
  • Unpublished
  • Visual Material

Most records also have a second classification based on the Library of Congress "Type of Record":

  • Language material
  • Notated music
  • Manuscript notated music
  • Cartographic material
  • Manuscript cartographic material
  • Projected medium
  • Nonmusical sound recording
  • Musical sound recording
  • Two-dimensional nonprojectable graphic
  • Kit
  • Mixed materials
  • Three-dimensional artifact/ecofact
  • Manuscript language material

 

On Tue, Aug 2, 2022 at 11:20 AM Rose Wood <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

External Email - Exercise Caution

Hi Fatima,

 

Here is our list with short explanations.

 

Kind regards,

 

Rose

 

On Fri, Jul 29, 2022 at 2:14 PM Mahdi, Fatima <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

External Email - Exercise Caution

Hello, TMSers!

 

We are reviewing our "Classification" field list. Would anyone be willing to share their classifications? Has anyone had any issue in searching on or reporting on sub-classifications?

 

Thank!

 

Fatima

 

--

Fatima Mahdi
Collections Information Specialist/TMS

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220-4007
Tel. 804.340.1443
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Teleworking Tuesdays & Fridays

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I acknowledge that I live and work on the ancestral homelands of the Chickahominy, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Upper Mattaponi tribes of central Virginia. I offer my deepest respect for their resilience and continued stewardship of their culture. 

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--

 

 

Rose Wood

Chief Registrar

 

[log in to unmask]

P: 205.254.2973   

 

Birmingham Museum of Art

2000 Rev. Abraham Woods, Jr. Blvd., Birmingham, Alabama 35203

artsbma.org

 

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