Standards for the use of the Material (MA),
Technique (MT) and related fields on the
Humanities National Database of the
Canadian Heritage Information Network
(CHIN).
Prepared by
Calum Ewing
Prepared for
Pat Young
Documentation Research
Canadian Heritage Information Network
Second Draft
31 May, 1992
Preface
This document is the result of a research project to develop
standards and guidelines for the use of the Material (MA),
Manufacture Technique (MT) and related fields on the CHIN
Humanities Databases. Of the fields studied, only the Material
(MA) and Manufacture Technique (MT) fields form part of the
Humanities National Database, the others being available only at
the institutional database level. The content of these fields in
the Humanities National Database is copied from the CHIN
institutional databases. As a result of the great numbers of
people developing these databases over many years, some fields in
the Humanities National Database have accumulated a great burden
of forms and types of information as the same concept may be
viewed in a variety of fashions by different people.
Beginning with the National Inventory Program (NIP) and
continuing through the development of the CHIN databases, the
entry of information into the databases has traditionally been
the main emphasis of many users. Little attention has been paid
to the formal structuring of the data or the retrieval of the
data once entered. The Humanities National Database represents a
huge and diverse cultural resource. However, in its current
situation with unstructured data and fields cluttered with
inappropriate data, it remains somewhat analogous to buried
treasure: a wealth of information if one could only get at it.
CHIN users reviewing the first draft of this report expressed the
desire that the National Database move away from acting as a
simple index of artifacts and move towards becoming a rich and
powerful research and management tool. Thus, the main goal of
this project has been to improve the retrieval of information
from the Humanities National Database. When formal standards for
data entry are adopted and utilized, both in the fields of the
National Database and those of institutional databases, the CHIN
database network will become the powerful research tool that is
its potential.
Towards this end a system of standards and guidelines is
presented in the body of this document. This preface has been
added in the second draft of this document to outline some of the
thinking behind these guidelines and present the "philosophy"
from which these standards are derived.
The entry of information into a computerized database system
revolves around two concepts: ease of entry and completeness of
entry. The huge variety of fields available to users of the CHIN
databases ensures that the appropriate fields will be available
to allow complete entry of information describing heritage
artifacts. Data entry has traditionally been easy since the
structuring of data was left primarily to the discretion of the
users with some published guidelines and examples (eg. CHIN
Humanities Data Dictionary, Delroy et al. 1988).
The retrieval of information from a database also revolves
around two critical concepts: ease of retrieval - how easy it is
to get the information desired; and retrieval accuracy - what
proportion of all the records containing desired information are
retrieved by a particular search. In practice, the data
structures for optimal data entry and optimal information
retrieval tend to be at odds. Entering artifact information in
free-form text in a small number of general fields makes entry
easy and comfortable but renders effective information retrieval
virtually impossible. While the large numbers of specifically
defined fields and rigid structure standards that ensure optimal
information retrieval make data entry a slow and painstaking
process. The ultimate goal is to balance these two opposing
needs. The most common balance is achieved through applying
strict structure and content standards to some fields while
allowing free text entry in other fields, such as description and
remarks fields. With the development of standards for particular
fields, such as those covered in this report, Object Name
(Delroy, 1991), Culture (Jewett & McEachern, 1985) and fine arts
Object Name (Sullivan, 1989), the CHIN database system is moving
towards such a hybrid system.
The goal of improving information retrieval in the Materials
(MA) and Techniques (MT) fields has been addressed in two
manners: developing guidelines to the form of entries (eg. word
form, punctuation, word order and field content); and reducing
the number of different terms entered in these fields with
substantially the same meaning.
To achieve effective retrieval of information, data must be
entered in a consistent form along a narrow set of concepts. The
development of rigid standards greatly improves data consistency
and entry guidelines help to keep data in a particular field
focused. A set of structural standards have been proposed as
part of this report. They include:
- singular, noun form for materials
- past participle form for techniques
- no codes or abbreviations
- no sizes, weights or measures
- use of semicolon only as break character between terms.
The importance of these structure standards cannot be
overemphasized as users must be able to know that a particular
material or technique will be entered in a single fashion and
must use that form to search for the desired term. For example,
a user searching for objects incorporating plastic as a material
might search for "plastic" in the material field. Such a search
would not retrieve records where materials data were entered as:
"wood,metal,plastic"
"wd.; plast."
"metal(body)/plastic(wheels)"
or
"wood; plastic-like material".
Similarly, a user searching for "feather" in the materials field
to retrieve objects incorporating feathers would not retrieve
records where materials data were entered as:
"feathers"
"feather (down)"
or
"six feathers".
Thus the retrieval accuracy is severely hampered by nonstandardized data since searching for simple terms does not yield
all of the records describing the desired data. A user would
have to try to guess all of the forms in which a particular
material may have been entered or resort to extremely slow
searches using wildcard characters and then weed out the
undesired records accidentally retrieved.
The reduction of numbers of different terms with the same
meaning will substantially improve the retrieval of information.
Restricting the numbers of terms results in users having fewer
terms to search to retrieve the desired information, greatly
improving the ease and accuracy of retrieval. Controlling the
vocabulary used in a field, especially restricting it to a
defined list of allowable terms or authority list, does make data
entry more difficult and slower. However the fewer the number of
terms on the controlled list, the easier it is to find the
appropriate term when cataloguing objects or entering data in a
database. This reduction in different, yet analogous or
synonymous, terms is achieved through a number of restrictions:
- limiting names of materials to terms based on composition or
origin and not on form, finish, shape or texture.
For materials, the information of primary importance
was judged to be the material composition and origin - what
is it and what/where did it come from? For example, users
should enter aluminum as a metal ("metal, aluminum") and not
as "foil", "polished aluminum", "anodized aluminum", "Alcan
foil", etc. Thus, the identity of specific animal or plant
parts (except where parts form distinct materials, such as
hair, skin or leaf), numbers of parts used, scientific names
of species, form, finish and brand names of materials were
all judged to be of secondary importance and are to be
placed in other fields.
- limiting names of techniques to those that were employed in
the forming of the object and not those used to produce the
materials from which the object was made.
The techniques used in the manufacture of the goods
used as material in the production of the object described,
often have little bearing on the form or appearance of the
finished object. However, these processes may have
relevance for such activities as conservation and storage
planning so this information may be recorded in other fields
such as description or remarks fields. Some judgement is
required when exercising this restriction in practice as
some objects may be primarily created by the process that
results in the constituent materials. This will be the case
in many ethnographic and archaeological objects, such as the
tanning of hides before making clothes.
In a similar fashion the terms "home made",
"commercial" or "manufactured" are not permitted in the
Techniques (MT) field. These extremely ambiguous and often
overused terms refer more to the location of manufacture,
skill level of the manufacturer or finished quality of the
object and have little relevance to the particular
techniques employed in the creation of the object. The
terms provided in the standards presented in the body of
this document do allow for the distinction between hand made
and machine made items.
- moving data to other fields in cases where the data do not
fit these guidelines or where other more appropriate fields
already exist.
Two frequent examples involve scientific names of
species used as materials and brand or trade names of
materials. Scientific names should be placed in the Genus
(GEN) and Species (SP) fields provided in the database
structure while brand names such as "styrofoam", "plywood",
"melamine" or "teflon" should be placed in the Medium Brand
Name (MEDBRN) field (it is recommended in this report that
the definitions of both these fields be altered to allow for
these new inclusions).
- controlling or limiting the depth or technical specificity
of terms.
While it is acknowledged that users have some
responsibility to research the terminology of a particular
field of expertise in which they with to do research, the
use of extremely technical or discipline specific
terminology can often make data unusable to the majority of
users outside that discipline. For this reason, very
technical or specific terminology is to be avoided in the
fields that form part of the Humanities National Database.
A number of levels of specificity of material and
technique identifications have been provided in the
standards outlined in the body of this document. For
example:
"skin"
"skin, reptile"
or
"skin, snake"
These levels can be used to reflect the degree of certainty
to which materials or techniques are known by selecting the
most specific term applicable.
- development of controlled lists of vocabulary or authority
list.
These lists have been developed from existing terms in
use in these fields, terms lists in use in CHIN client
institutions and in the Art and Architecture Thesaurus
(Petersen, 1990). To be effective, all of the data entered
in a field should be selected from the associated authority
list. The lists also function as a guide to terms to search
for retrieving desired information. While it is not
suggested that these lists contain every material or
technique represented in the collections of every heritage
institution, in all likelihood, they do contain the terms
needed to describe the vast majority of those collections.
Institutions with very large or specialized collections may
select more general terms from the lists as applicable and
may desire to make additions or changes to the list. Such a
controlled list of vocabulary can only be effective if it is
controlled. Thus, a formal procedure for making changes to
authority lists should be set up to ensure that the lists
remain standardized throughout all client institutions.
Based on the standards and guidelines outlined above
and in the body of this report, users may find apparent
contradictions in the lists of allowable terms. When
deciding on the inclusion of analogous terms in the
authority lists, the often opposing weight of common usage
and technical accuracy were considered. The tendency in
these cases was to decide in the favour of technical
accuracy. Situations where these decisions were made and
CHIN users made frequent input are outlined below:
Latin Names
("Lignum vitae", "Hippopotamus", etc.)
In these cases, latin-derived names are permitted
since these names are in common English usage and very
often are not the proper scientific name for the
species.
"Ceramic" vs. "Clay"
The use of the term "ceramic" as a broad category
of materials may appear to be in conflict with the
guideline that material names should be based on
composition or origin and not form. While all ceramic
objects are indeed made of some form of clay, the
firing process, that defines ceramics are being
different from clay materials, results in material that
is distinctly different in its properties than clay.
Ceramic objects are much harder, stronger and more
resistant to fracture than their clay counterparts.
Thus it was proposed in the body of the document that
in cases where the characteristics of materials are
distinctly changed by processing, that the term
referring to the processed material be used.
"Fibre" vs. "Textile", "Fabric", "Cloth", "Thread", etc.
Unlike the above example, the fibres derived from
various plants may be spun, sewn, knitted or woven into
thread, yarn or fabric, yet their nature and
characteristics remain substantially unchanged. The
majority of textile processes simply combine units of
fibres into particular physical forms or shapes. The
many ways in which a textile fibre can be described
based on the form of the processed material tend to
make retrieval of information relating to textile
materials very difficult. For example, a user trying
to find cotton objects would have to search for
"cotton" in conjunction with a host of terms referring
to form (eg. "thread", "cloth", etc.) as well as a
series of names referring to particular types of cotton
textiles, such as "canvas".
It could be argued that "fibre" is a term
describing form, not origin or composition. However,
this is also true of the other textile terms such as
"cloth", "yarn" or "thread". The composition of cotton
fabric can be said to be cotton fibres since the fibres
are the useable product of the cotton plant. Thus the
term "fibre" can be considered as referring to the
composition of the material as well as to its form.
This is not true of the other, often rather ambiguous,
textile terms. Thus, a proposal has been put forward
in this report that the term "fibre" be used as a broad
category of terms identifying the origin of fibres
employed in textiles and that the other textile-related
terms (eg. "cloth", "fabric", etc.) should not be used.
"Fibre" vs. Plant Parts
In a manner similar to the above example,
confusion may arise when deciding when to use the term
"fibre" and when to use terms referring to specific
plant parts (eg. "fibre, palm" vs. "leaf, palm"). The
distinction here rests on the degree to which the plant
parts have been processed into new materials before use
in making the object in question. All plant fibres
start as plant parts yet at some point in the process
of turning leaves or bark into fibres, the material
ceases to have the form of the original plant part and
can be said to be fibres derived from that plant.
Thus, the decision regarding which term to use depends
on whether the materials remain substantially in their
original form or if they have been transformed into new
material with different characteristics. For example,
palm leaves cut from a tree and woven into a basket
would be described as "leaf, palm" yet palm leaves
shredded and twisted into fibrous strands and woven
into a mat would be described as "fibre, palm".
"Grass" vs. Plant Parts
The use of grasses as materials in the creation of
objects presents a special problem. In many cases
these grasses are not substantially processed and thus
do not qualify as "fibres" yet it can be very difficult
to tell whether leaves, stems or both have been used as
materials to allow identification of the specific plant
parts (eg."leaf"). In some fields, such as basketry,
it is common to use both the leaves and stems of
grasses without substantial processing. To alleviate
this problem the general term "grass" has been proposed
for use in this situation.
The development of this report has proceeded with the input
of a vast body of CHIN users and other professionals. The
authour is extremely greatful for the help, encouragement and
interest of these people. The great numbers of opinions from
these many sources resulted in often conflicting directions for
the evolution of this document. The main task in the production
of this report has been to reconcile, through compromise and
comparison with the current situation on the National Database,
these views. The end result is that this document, by
definition, does not follow the way in which data is currently
entered at all CHIN client institutions and thus, not all users
will agree with the recommendations outlined herein. Through the
application of rigid standards such as these, however, the
Humanities National Database will continue its development into
the powerful, effective research and management tool that so many
users desire it to be.
Calum Ewing
May 30, 1992.
Revision History
June 1991: Preparation of initial draft after review of original
preliminary manuscript by Documentation Research
(CHIN) staff.
Nov. 1991: Review and discussion of first draft by CHIN user
representatives at 1991 CHIN User Conference.
May 1992: Second draft prepared incorporating input from CHIN
staff and user groups.
i
Table of Contents
1.0
Introduction
2.0
CHIN and the National Database
3.0
4.0
.........................................
.......................
2.1
Data Entry vs. Information Retrieval
2.2
Users and Utility of Data
Naming Criteria
1
1
............
2
.......................
2
......................................
3
3.1
Unique Entries and Indexing
.....................
3
3.2
Thesaurus Module
................................
4
3.3
Origin vs. Form
.................................
4
3.4
Term Specificity
................................
5
Standards for Material Field (MA)
.....................
9
...........................................
9
4.1
Noun
4.2
Singular
4.3
Abbreviation
4.4
Code
4.5
Punctuation Marks and Special Characters ......... 10
4.6.1
4.6.2
.......................................
9
................................... 10
........................................... 10
4.6
Multiple Entries
Term Separators
......................... 11
Word Order
.............................. 11
4.7
Term Descriptive Level
......................... 12
4.8
Raw vs. Processed Materials
4.9
Whole Objects and Parts
4.10
Latin Names
4.11
Brand and Trade Names
4.12
Material Origins
.................... 13
........................ 14
.................................... 15
.......................... 15
............................... 16
ii
4.13
Material Form
.................................. 17
4.14
Size, Weights and Measures
4.15
Unknown and Attributed
..................... 17
......................... 18
5.0
Authority List for Material (MA) Field
6.0
Standards for Technique (MT) Field
............... 18
................... 20
6.1
Verb
........................................... 20
6.2
Past Participle
6.3
Abbreviation
6.4
Code
6.5
Punctuation
6.6
Multiple Entries
............................... 22
6.6.1 Term Separators
......................... 22
6.6.2 Word Order
.............................. 22
6.7
Term Descriptive Level
6.8
Whole Objects and Parts
........................ 24
6.9
Techniques vs. Processes
....................... 24
6.10
Raw vs. Processed Materials
6.11
Unknown and Attributed
................................ 20
................................... 21
........................................... 21
.................................... 21
......................... 23
.................... 24
......................... 25
7.0
Authority List for Technique (MT) Field
8.0
Related Fields
.............. 26
....................................... 27
8.1
Alternate Material Name (MAA)
8.2
Additive Material (MAAD)
8.3
Genus (GEN) and Species (SP)
8.4
Paste (PAS)
.................. 27
....................... 28
................... 29
.................................... 32
8.5
Art Terms: Medium (MED), Support (SUP), Medium
Brand Name (MEDBRN) and Medium Remarks (MEDREM) . 33
iii
8.0
8.6
Decorative Technique (DT)
Related Fields (Cont'd)
...................... 34
9.0
Retrieval Guidelines
................................. 35
10.0
Conclusion
11.0
Acknowledgements
12.0
References
........................................... 38
13.0
Appendices
........................................... 39
........................................... 37
..................................... 37
13.1
Authority List: Material (Alphabetical)
........ 40
13.2
Authority List: Material (by Category)
......... 51
13.3
Authority List: Technique (Alphabetical)
13.4
Authority List: Technique (by Category)
13.5
Cataloguing References
....... 63
........ 69
......................... 76
1.0
Introduction
This guide outlines specific approaches to standardizing the
data relating to materials and manufacture techniques in heritage
collections databases following the Humanities Data Dictionary
(Delroy, et al., 1988) of the Canadian Heritage Information
Network. These described approaches entail proposed sets of rigid
standards defining the content of field entries and proposed lists
of allowable terms or authority lists. Delroy (1991) identified
three types of data standards: format standards, defining the form
of words used; content standards, defining actual terminology and
controlling such terms as compound terms, word order, etc.; and
structure standards, defining the type of data that a field may
contain and in which field particular data should be placed. The
standards outlined in the body of this report address all three
types and represent an outline that, if adopted for use with the
CHIN
databases,
will
greatly
enhance
the
uniformity,
retrievability and thus utility of the data.
One of the major initiatives of the CHIN Network is the
development of data standards, since standardized data greatly
enhance information sharing between institutions (CHIN, 1991).
Much work has been done on developing standards for various fields
and disciplines including object names (Delroy, 1991), fine arts
(Sullivan, 1989) and culture (Jewett & McEachern, 1985).
This
report is a continuation of this initiative to develop information
standardization.
2.0
CHIN and the National Database
The Canadian Heritage Information Network, part of the
Department of Communications, operates a computerized network of
heritage collections databases.
More than 160 institutions
participate in the network with 50 institutions maintaining
humanities collections databases, incorporating nearly 1.7 million
records.
While each database may contain vast amounts of information
in hundreds of data fields, it is available only to the
institution responsible for those records.
In order to address
CHIN's information sharing mandate, a subset of data from each
record is copied into a national database of 36 fields.
These
fields were selected by CHIN participants and the data contained
in them is accessible to all CHIN clients.
If this nationally
shared information is to be understood and used by the hundreds of
registrars, curators and researchers at all of the client
institutions,
it
must
be
entered
in
a
consistent
and
understandable format. This uniformity is ensured through the use
of data standards.
2.1
Data Entry vs. Information Retrieval
Data may be entered in a database in two discrete fashions: a
descriptive manner where free form text describing an object's
attributes is entered; and a prescriptive manner where users must
select terms and phrases from defined lists of allowable entries.
Descriptive systems allow easy and rapid data entry with minimal
training of staff, while making effective retrieval of information
difficult or virtually impossible.
Conversely, prescriptive
systems allow much easier and more accurate retrieval of data but
result in slower and more difficult initial data entry. Readers
are referred to Delroy (1991) for a detailed discussion of these
two systems and their relative merits. The Revised Nomenclature
(Blackaby, et al., 1988), CHIN's standards for object names
(Delroy, 1991), and this report are examples of prescriptive
vocabulary control systems.
A compromise between these two different approaches often
yields the most useful structure for databases.
In practice,
these compromise systems often dictate rigid standards and
vocabulary lists for some fields while allowing free descriptive
text in others. This type of compromise system permits easy data
retrieval using the standardized fields while allowing users to
enter descriptive information in a form that they are comfortable
with, in other fields.
With the development of standards for
fields in the national database, such as Object Name (OB),
Material (MA) and Manufacture Technique (MT), and the support of
descriptive text in such fields as Description (DE) and
Cataloguer's Remarks (CREM), the CHIN network is moving towards
such a compromise structure.
When cataloguing artifacts and recording data, institutions
naturally consider their own needs for using and retrieving the
information as a primary concern. However, it is inc$xbent upon
museum professionals dealing with other museums to consider the
use of their recorded information by others.
Whenever entering
artifact information, care must be exercised to ensure the data is
entered in a form that is retrievable and useable by a wide
variety of users.
2.2
Users and Utility of Data
A second initiative of CHIN is increasing access to the
databases, eventually to the point where every museum and gallery
across Canada as well as members of the public will be able to
access the national database. This presents the situation where
the data contained in the network databases will be available to a
wide range of users with varying degrees of expertise in different
fields. One of the most difficult areas in the development of any
controlled vocabulary is providing a range of terms that are
specific enough to be of use to specialists in a given discipline
and yet be of use to all those outside that discipline.
Throughout the development of these standards, the attempt was
made to propose a system that would balance these often opposing
requirements.
3.0
Naming Criteria
3.1
Unique Entries and Indexing
The CHIN database system software creates a discrete entry in
the index file associated with a particular field for every unique
term in that field. Each time a term is entered with different
spelling, punctuation, word order or form, a new entry is created
in the index list. This is because the computer cannot understand
the meanings of terms, only that they are not exactly the same.
For example, the terms
British Columbia
BC
B.C.
B-C
BC.
British Coulmbia
would create six different index entries although they all have
the same meaning. In order to retrieve all six of these records,
the user would have to know that all six existed and search
individually for each one.
In a database the size of the
Humanities National Database, the use of several different terms
to mean the same thing becomes a problem. For example, there are
currently 1,949 discrete terms identifying material names that
begin with the term "Wood" in the national database, yet it is
inconceivable that there are over 1,900 types of wood represented
in museum collections across Canada. The vast majority of these
unique terms stem from the use of inappropriate punctuation
characters (, . / - etc..) as break characters separating
different terms. In addition, descriptive phrases, indications of
numbers, and a host of information belonging in other fields
contribute to this proliferation of unique terms.
Large numbers of terms result in very large index files,
greatly slowing retrieval of information.
Strictly controlling
the numbers of unique terms will increase understanding of the
data and greatly enhance retrieval time and accuracy.
To this
end, authority lists of allowable terms for the Material (MA)
field (400 terms) and the Technique (MT) field (153 terms) are
proposed as part of this report (See 5.0, 7.0, 13.0, below). It
is noted that the sizes of these lists will approximately double
when translated to French equivalents.
3.2
Thesaurus Module
A thesaurus functions differently from a list of allowable
terms in that it provides linkages between related terms and often
indicates the hierarchical relationships between terms.
An
example
of
a
thesaurus
developed
for
documenting
object
collections is the Getty Art History Information Program's Art &
Architecture Thesaurus (Petersen, 1990).
The CHIN system software is capable of supporting an online
thesaurus module that can allow users to look up related terms or
get clarification of terminology as in a book thesaurus.
This
thesaurus is also capable of operating in an automatic mode
providing a link between terms chosen by a user for retrieval and
those entered in the database. For example, if all maple objects
were entered as "Wood, Maple" and a user tried to retrieve all
records where "MA=Rock Maple", the thesaurus module could make the
connection that "Rock Maple" is "Wood, Maple" and retrieve the
desired records without the user having to redefine the search
parameters.
The advantage of such a system lies in the greater
freedom of terminology available to the user for retrieving
information.
This freedom greatly diminishes the differences
between discipline specific technical terminology and that known
by general users outside that particular discipline, since the
computer can automatically link the technical and general terms.
The
above
described
thesaurus
module
is
currently
undergoing testing and evaluation by CHIN staff.
This report,
however, must focus on the present situation, thus a restricted
terminology of discrete terms has been proposed.
Once the data
contained in the national database have been standardized,
conversion to any future system of vocabulary control or
translation will be much easier (much of it handled as bulk
changes) than converting non-standardized data.
3.3
Origin vs. Form
The fact that a given material can be named based on a
number of different concepts has given rise to a great
proliferation of unique field entries.
For example, a given
material can be described based on its origin or composition (eg.
Fibre, Silk), its texture (eg. Velvet), physical form (eg. metal
foil), or trade name (eg. Plexiglas).
It is recommended that
material identifications entered in the Material (MA) field are
entered only in terms based on their composition or origin.
Information relating to the texture, finish, or form of materials
may be recorded but should be entered in other fields, such as
Description (DE, DE2,... DE6).
This restriction of material
terminology is based on the authour's experience that it is the
composition of materials, rather than the form or finish, that
will most frequently be of interest to those using the Humanities
National Database. In addition, material composition is likely to
be the information most frequently needed by users concerned with
conservation, restoration or storage planning.
3.4
Term Specificity
When describing any material or technique, terms covering a
wide range of specificity or precision can be used. Part of this
report consists of lists of controlled vocabulary, or authority
lists, for use with the Materials (MA) and Manufacture Techniques
(MT) fields.
These lists are comprised of terms to describe
materials and techniques likely to be used in the creation of
heritage objects.
The restriction of terms to a few levels of
specificity, as provided in the authority lists, will greatly
reduce the number of different terms with the same meaning that
currently clutter these fields hampering accurate retrieval of
information.
Specific names for materials, and to a lesser extent
techniques, can often be grouped together in general categories
where
different
materials
or
techniques
share
certain
characteristics.
Materials typically fall into one of several
general categories based on their composition and origin.
For
example, bronze, lead and copper are all metals, while maple,
birch and tulipwood are all woods. Within a category, materials
share common characteristics, have similar origins, and typically
share
common
requirements
for
storage,
conservation
and
preservation.
As such it is useful to be able to easily group
objects incorporating related materials. It is a proposal of this
paper that material names should be entered with both a broad or
more general term, based on composition or origin, and a specific
name, if known.
Using broad categories for classifying materials has several
advantages for users. Groups of related materials may be easily
retrieved making it much easier to find records describing objects
constructed of similar materials. If the general term is entered
before the specific name, for example:
"Wood, Maple"
or
"Stone, Granite"
related materials will sort together simplifying report generation
and comparisons between records (ie. "Maple" would appear on a
sorted list with other woods, not with "Marble").
The broad
categories employed in the Material (MA) field (Table I) and the
Manufacture Techniques (MT) field authority lists (Table II)
encompass the majority of materials and techniques.
Some
materials, such as "Coral" or "Glass", and a number of techniques,
do not fit into any general category and are to be used as the
specific term alone.
Table I: General terms to be employed in Material (MA) field of
CHIN Humanities National Database. See Appendix 1, 2
for notes concerning use of some terms.
Origin:
Animal
Plant
Miscellaneous
General
Terms
Adhesive
Antler
Bill
Bone
Claw
Dung
Feather
Foot
Hair
Horn
Ink
Ivory
Quill
Shell
Skin
Tooth
Wax
Adhesive
Bark
Cone
Fibre
Grass
Leaf
Nut
Paper
Shell
Wax
Wood
Adhesive
Ceramic
Ink
Metal
Mineral
Paint
Pigment
Plastic
Rubber
Stone
Wax
Different levels of term specificity have been provided in
the authority lists so that users may enter terms reflecting the
detail to which materials or techniques have been identified at
the time of cataloguing. For example, a user may select between:
Tooth
Tooth, Fish
Tooth, Shark
to reflect the degree of certainty to which the material
identification has been determined. Searching for all materials
containing "Tooth" will retrieve records with any of the above
terms, allowing users to find the desired records even if the
materials were not identified completely.
Users should use the
most specific term available in the authority list, depending on
the certainty of identification, to ensure that the most detailed
information is available to users of the Humanities National
Database.
Table
II:
General terms to be employed in Manufacture
Techniques (MT) field of the CHIN Humanities National
Database.
Group:
Textiles
General
Terms:
Embroidered
Knitted
Printed
Sewn
Spun
Woven
Others
Blown
Cast
Gilded
Moulded
Painted
Printed
Tanned
Tinted
Welded
4.0
Standards for Material Field (MA)
The following is a series of standards defining the structure,
form and content of data in the Material (MA) field on the
Humanities National Database. These standards are aimed at
reducing the number of unique terms, reducing the repetition of
data between fields, discouraging the inclusion of data belonging
in other fields, and enhancing the understanding and utility of
the data.
4.1
Noun
Use only the proper noun form of the name of the
material. Enter terms describing the material composition
or origin. Do not enter terms that describe the form,
texture, shape or other attributes of the material. Terms
are to be selected from the authority list and entered in
the form presented in that list. Do not include the name of
the object or its component parts, only the material from
which it is made. Include only the material name and not
details of how the material was processed or manufactured.
4.2
Use
Do Not Use
wood
plastic
glass
metal
clay
plastic
wooden
plastic wrap
glass rod
metallic construction
air dried clay
extruded plastic
Singular
Use only the singular form of the noun describing the
material. Do not include numbers of component materials or
parts or indicate quantities of materials. The Material
field should act only as a list of materials used in the
manufacture of the object. See also, 4.6 Multiple Entries,
below.
Use
Do Not Use
shell
hair
feather
shell
shells
hairs
six feathers
shells (6)
4.3
Abbreviation
Enter the name of the material in full, do not
abbreviate. Generally, abbreviations are known only to the
person entering the data and make the data unusable by
others. Abbreviated terms also make retrieval more
difficult and must be converted when producing reports.
4.4
Use
Do Not Use
wood
plastic
paint
wd.
plast.
pnt.
Code
Do not enter numeric or other codes for materials,
enter only the material name in full. Codes are known only
in the entering institution, make the data difficult or
impossible to understand and lead to retrieval problems. In
addition, the use of codes makes the detection of
typographical errors virtually impossible.
4.5
Use
Do Not Use
wood
shell
metal
345
S.17
1-67
Punctuation Marks and Special Characters
Enter terms without any punctuation marks. Only the
semicolon (;) and the question mark (?) can be used in the
material field. No other punctuation marks can be used.
See also, 4.6 Multiple Entries, 4.7 Term Descriptive Level,
and 4.15 Unknown and Attributed, below.
Use
Do Not Use
skin
wood
pearl ?
"skin"
wood - twigs
pearl (possibly)
4.6
Multiple Entries
When an object is composed of more than one material,
enter the names of the materials used in the object as a
list. Enter all of the known materials comprising the
object not simply the unusual materials or the ones of
interest to the cataloguer.
4.6.1
Term Separators
Multiple entries are listed in sequence and must
be separated by a semicolon (;). Only the semicolon
may be used as a separator between terms.
Use
Do Not Use
wood; metal
plastic; metal
metal; ivory
shell; fibre
wood & metal
plastic, metal
metal.ivory
shell/fibre
4.6.2
Word Order
Multiple entries are to be entered in order from
the most predominant material to the least predominant
material. This is analogous to the listing of
ingredients on food packaging and gives a clearer
understanding of the nature of the object.
Examples
A painted, wooden kitchen chair would be entered
as:
OB=chair
OT=kitchen
MA=wood; paint
A wooden coffee table with an inlaid pattern of
metal and glass would be entered as:
OB=table
OT=coffee
MA=wood; glass; metal
4.7
Term Descriptive Level
When a material name is known to a specific level,
enter a more general term first followed by the specific
term. Users unsure of the appropriate general term, if any,
should consult the Material Authority List by Category in
Appendix 2 of this report. General and specific terms are
separated by a comma. Only two levels of descriptive terms
are to be used, as shown in the authority list. This
ordering makes it easier to retrieve objects made of related
materials and ensures that the data will sort properly for
report generation. If the material has been identified to a
more precise degree than the two levels provided in the
authority list, enter other terms or discipline-specific
terminology in the Alternate Material Name (MAA) field. See
also, 4.10 Latin Names, 8.1 Alternate Material Name (MAA),
and 8.3 Genus (GEN) and Species (SP), below.
Use
Do Not Use
skin, bear
bark, birch
wood, maple
plastic, vinyl
ceramic, earthenware
bear fur
birch bark
maple
vinyl
earthenware pottery
Examples
A hat made from raccoon fur would be entered as:
OB=hat
MA=skin, raccoon
An end table made of bird's eye maple would be
entered as:
OB=table
OT=end
MA=wood, maple
MAA=bird's eye maple
Book ends carved from fossilized coral limestone
would be entered as:
OB=book end
MA=stone, limestone
MAA=coral limestone; fossil coral
4.8
Raw vs. Processed Materials
In many cases objects are manufactured from finished or
processed materials and not from raw materials. The nature
and characteristics of some of these processed materials are
radically altered as part of the production process
resulting in new distinct materials. Examples of processes
that alter the nature of the materials are the
transformation of wood into charcoal or paper and the
smelting of ore into metal. In other processes, raw
materials are merely combined into a new physical form, yet
retain their characteristics, such as the spinning and
weaving of cotton fibres into fabric.
Enter only the terms describing the materials directly
used in the manufacture of the object being catalogued. In
cases of materials greatly altered by processing, such as
metals and plastics, the terms for the processed materials
are to be entered. Terms for raw materials are to be
entered in cases where the materials have not been
substantially changed by processing but have merely been
combined into new forms, such as textiles.
Do not list the various constituent materials that were
used to manufacture the finished goods from which the object
was made as such descriptions tend to result in confusing
and complex entries in the field making information
retrieval difficult.
This restriction narrows the focus of
the field and helps to reduce the incidence of data that may
have little relevance to the actual object described.
Examples
A deer skin robe decorated with charcoal motifs
would be entered as:
OB=Robe
not as:
MA=Skin, Deer; Charcoal
OB=Robe
MA=Skin, Deer; Wood
A sweater knitted from sheep's wool would
be entered as:
OB=sweater
MA=hair, sheep
not as:
OB=sweater
MA=yarn, wool
A bronze bowl would be entered as:
OB=Bowl
MA=Metal, Bronze
not as:
OB=Bowl
MA=Ore, Copper; Ore, Tin
A basket woven from palm leaves would be entered as:
OB=Basket
MA=Leaf, Palm
While a mat woven from palm leaves that had been
shredded and twisted into fibrous strands would be
entered as:
OB=Mat
MA=Fibre, Palm
A cotton dress with synthetic lace trim would be
entered as:
OB=dress
MA=fibre, cotton; fibre, synthetic
A sample bolt of the cotton cloth used to make the
above dress would be entered as:
OB=sample
OT=cloth
MA=fibre, cotton
A sample of the cotton thread used in the manufacture
of the above cloth would be entered as:
OB=sample
OT=thread
MA=fibre, cotton
4.9
Whole Objects and Parts
Enter the list of materials used to make the entire
object, including all of its parts. Do not give indications
of the identity of various parts in the Material (MA) field.
Details concerning the materials of various parts should be
entered in the Description fields (DE, DE2,... DE6)
Use
Do Not Use
wood; metal
glass; paper
metal, iron; wood, hickory
wood (box); metal (lid)
glass jar; paper label
iron; handle, hickory
4.10
Latin Names
Enter only the commonly known names of materials.
Scientific or Latin names of plant or animal species are
unknown by most users and make retrieval difficult.
Scientific names are to be entered in the Genus (GEN) and
Species (SP) fields. There are apparent exceptions to this
rule such as the woods "Lignum vitae" and "Arbor vitae". In
these cases the latin-derived names are in common English
usage and are often not the proper scientific names. Users
are cautioned that the common names associated with
particular species often vary between countries and between
regions within a country. See also, 8.3 Genus (GEN) and
Species (SP), below.
Examples
A birch bark trinket box sewn with nylon thread would
be entered as:
OB=box
OT=trinket
MA=bark, birch; plastic, nylon
GEN=Betula
SP=papyrifera
A necklace made of moose leather and mussel shells
would be entered as:
OB=necklace
MA=skin, moose; shell, mussel
GEN=Alces; Mytilus
SP=alces; edulis
4.11
Brand and Trade Names
Enter only the material names based on the composition
or origin of the material. Do not enter commercial brand or
trade names in the Material field. The definition of the
Brand Name (BRN) field restricts the use of this field to
the brand name of the object described by the record. Brand
names and trade names of materials should be entered in the
Medium Brand Name (MEDBRN) field as they are analogous to
the brand named of media used in art objects. See also, 8.5
Art Terms, below.
Examples
A styrofoam coffee cup would be entered as:
OB=cup
OT=coffee
MA=plastic, polystyrene
MAA=styrofoam
A blanket box made of melamine coated softwood with
brass hinges, would be entered as:
OB=box
OT=blanket
MA=wood, soft; plastic; metal, brass
MAA=melamine
4.12
Material Origins
Enter only a two-level descriptor for the material,
based on its general and more specific types. Often, the
more specific terms, of the general/specific pair, relate to
the type of plant or animal from which the material was
derived. Do not enter terms referring to the specific part
of the animal or plant from which the material was obtained.
A variety of general terms has been included in the
authority list to aid users in defining general plant and
animal parts used as materials (eg. "wood", "leaf", "bark",
"root"). Terms referring to the identity of specific animal
or plant parts used as materials should be entered in the
Alternate Material Name (MAA) field. See also, 13.1
Appendix 1, and 8.1 Alternate Material Name (MAA), below.
Use
Do Not Use
hair, cat
bone, deer
wood, willow
tooth, beaver
cat whiskers
deer skull
willow branches
beaver incisor
Example
A carving of a seal hunt, made from a whale vertebra
would be entered as:
OB=sculpture
SUB=seal hunt
MA=bone, whale
MAA=vertebra
4.13
Material Form
Enter only terms describing materials based on their
origin or composition. Do not enter terms describing the
form, finish or physical shape of the materials in the
Material field. Information relating to the form of the
materials employed in the manufacture of the object should
be entered in the description fields (DE, DE2,... DE6).
4.14
Use
Do Not Use
wood, oak
fibre, silk
paper, wood
fibre, cotton
fibre, silk
metal, aluminum
plastic, celluloid
oak veneer
satin
corrugated paper
canvas
velvet
aluminum foil
celluloid film
Size, Weights and Measures
Do not enter sizes, weights or measures of material
attributes such as purity in the Material field. Data of
this nature should be entered in the Other Size (SZO) field.
Use
Do Not Use
metal, gold
feather
metal, lead
18 carat gold
large feathers
00 lead shot
Example
An 18 carat gold wedding ring would be entered as:
OB=ring
OT=wedding
MA=metal, gold
SZO=18 carat
4.15
Unknown and Attributed
If the material is unknown at the time of initial
cataloguing, do not enter data in the material field. The
term "Unknown" may be entered to indicate that further
research has not elucidated the nature of the material.
Uncertain material identifications may be entered and
followed by a space and a question mark (" ?"). Do not
enter terms such as "possibly", "probably", "might be", etc.
Use
Do Not Use
wood ?
plastic ?
ivory ?; plastic ?
wood?
possibly plastic
ivory or plastic
Example
A pendant made of a material that had not been
identified after investigation, would be entered as:
OB=pendant
MA=unknown
5.0
Authority List for Material (MA) Field
As an aid to controlling the vocabulary employed in the
Material field on the Humanities National Database, an authority
list of allowable terms was developed (see 12.1 Appendix 1 and
12.2 Appendix 2 where the list is presented in alphabetical order
and grouped into broad categories).
The content of this list was derived primarily from the Art
and Architecture Thesaurus (Petersen, 1990) and a controlled
vocabulary developed by P. Whan of the Wellington County Museum &
Archives. The resulting list was then modified based on
submissions of lists of terms in use by numerous CHIN client
institutions and examination of the data currently contained in
the Humanities National Database.
In keeping with the standards outlined above, the authority
list contains terms describing materials based on their origin or
composition. Terms referring to form, finish, measurements and
extremely technical terms have been avoided. Terms were selected
that should be familiar to the vast majority of users to ensure
utility of the data by the widest possible clientele,
consequently some terms may appear to have homologues elsewhere
in the list (eg. "antler" and "horn"). While it is arguable that
many of these groups of analogous terms could be amalgamated,
they have been maintained as separate terms to reflect the
general perception of the meanings of the terms. For example, it
is generally understood that moose have antlers and cattle have
horns. In many cases, this separation of apparently similar
terms is also based on technical differences that may not be
generally known.
Terms of both general and more specific nature (eg. "skin"
vs. "skin, beaver") are provided to allow the user to enter
useful data even when the identity of the material may not be
precisely known. Users should enter the most precise term
provided in the authority list, for a given material, to ensure
that the most information is available to users of the Humanities
National Database. When the identity of the material is
precisely known, both the general and specific terms must be
entered, as presented in the authority list (eg. "plastic,
polyester" not "polyester"), to ensure proper sorting and display
and to enable easier retrieval of related materials.
This authority list is not intended to contain every
conceivable material that could be represented in the collections
of CHIN client institutions. It is likely, however, that the
vast majority of objects can be described using this list of
terms. In cases where the appropriate specific term is not
included in the list, the appropriate general term should be used
and the specific material data recorded in the Alternate Material
Name (MAA) field. Institutions with large or very specialized
collections may desire modifications to this list. Additions and
deletions of terms may periodically be required. However, the
controlled vocabulary that an authority list represents can only
be effective if it is controlled. Thus if this list, or a
similar one, is adopted for use on the Humanities National
Database, it is recommended that a formal system be devised for
controlling the addition or deletion of terms.
6.0
Standards for Technique (MT) Field
The following is a series of standards defining the
structure, form and content of data in the Manufacture Technique
(MT) field on the Humanities National Database. These standards
are aimed at reducing the number of unique entries, reducing the
repetition of data between fields, discouraging the inclusion of
data belonging in other fields and enhancing the understanding
and utility of the data.
6.1
Verb
Use only the proper verb form of the name of the
technique unless the verb form is inappropriate. Do not
enter terms that describe the form, extent or other
attributes of the techniques or the materials that are
employed in the manufacture of the object. Terms are to be
selected from the authority list (see 13.3 Appendix 3) and
entered in the form presented in that list. Do not include
the name of the object, only the technique by which it was
made.
6.2
Use
Do Not Use
beaded
appliquéd
turned
hammered
crimped
beadwork
ribbon appliqué
turned wood
lightly hammered
crimped on edges
Past Participle
Enter only the past participle form of the verb
describing the technique.
Use
Do Not Use
cast
turned
felted
casting
turning
felting
6.3
Abbreviation
Enter the name of the technique in full, do not
abbreviate. Generally, abbreviations are known only to the
person entering the data and make the data unusable by
others. Abbreviated terms also make retrieval more
difficult and must be converted when producing reports.
6.4
Use
Do Not Use
welded
printed
extruded
wld
pr.
extr.
Code
Do not enter numeric or other codes for techniques,
enter only the name of the technique in full. Codes are
known only in the entering institution, make the data
difficult or impossible to understand and lead to retrieval
problems. In addition, the use of codes makes the detection
of typographical errors virtually impossible.
6.5
Use
Do Not Use
welded
turned
moulded
W-01
067
2.34
Punctuation and Special Characters
Enter terms
semicolon (;) and
Technique field.
can be used. See
Multiple Entries,
without any punctuation marks. Only the
the question mark (?) can be used in the
No other punctuation or special characters
also, 6.6 Term Descriptive Level, 6.7
and 6.11 Unknown and Attributed.
Use
Do Not Use
cast
riveted
tempered ?
"cast"
riveted (edge)
tempered (possibly)
6.6
Multiple Entries
When an object is manufactured using more than one
technique, enter the names of the techniques as a list.
Enter all of the known techniques used to produce the
object, not simply the unusual techniques or the ones of
interest to the cataloguer.
6.6.1
Term Separators
Multiple entries are listed in sequence and must
be separated by a semicolon (;). Only the semicolon
may be used as a separator between terms.
Use
Do Not Use
welded; painted
cast; bored
moulded; printed
welded & painted
cast, bored
moulded/printed
6.6.2
Word Order
Multiple entries are to be entered in order
beginning with the most important technique resulting
in the overall form of the object and ending with
techniques having minimal effect on the object's
overall form. This order often is not the order in
which the techniques would have been performed,
however this ordering tends to give the user a clearer
understanding of the nature of the object.
Examples
A wooden mixing bowl turned on a lathe and
varnished would be entered as:
OB=bowl
OT=mixing
MT=turned; varnished
An embroidered, woven table cloth would be
entered as:
OB=table cloth
MT=woven; embroidered
A glazed earthenware jam jar with impressed
writing on its side would be entered as:
OB=jar
OT=jam
MT=moulded; fired; impressed; glazed
6.7
Term Descriptive Level
Most of the terms included in the authority list
provide a single level of descriptive precision. However in
some cases, a second level of precision is provided. When a
technique is known to a specific level, enter the more
general term first, followed by the specific term. General
and specific terms are separated by a comma. Only two
levels of descriptive terms are to be used. This ordering
makes it easier to retrieve objects made using related
techniques and ensures that the data will sort properly for
report generation. Avoid using very specialized terminology
as this makes the data unusable to those outside that field
of specialization. The authority list provides a guide to
the precision of terminology to be employed in fields
incorporated in the Humanities National Database. If the
technique has been identified to a more precise degree than
the two levels provided in the authority list, other terms
or discipline specific terminology should be entered in the
Cataloguer's Remarks field (CREM) or Description fields (DE,
DE2,... DE6).
Use
Do Not Use
welded, arc
sewn, hand
moulded, vacuum
arc welded
sewn by hand
vacu-formed
Example
A brocade woven shawl would be entered as:
OB=shawl
MT=woven, hand
CREM=Made of brocade woven fabric.
6.8
Whole Objects and Parts
Enter the techniques that were used to form the entire
object before entering techniques used to manufacture any of
its constituent parts. No separation of technique terms,
other than the semicolon, is used to distinguish between
techniques relating to the whole object and those relating
to its parts. Do not include references to the identity of
the constituent parts.
Example
A painted, wooden toy train with cast aluminum wheels
and stamped brass couplings would be entered as:
OB=train
OT=toy
SUB=train
MT=painted; cast; stamped
6.9
Techniques vs. Processes
When manufacturing processes involving several
discrete techniques are used to create an object, it is
usually unnecessary to list each individual technique
applied to the materials of the object at each stage in its
creation. The individual steps are understood as parts of
the overall process defined by term selected.
Example
When describing a sample of hand spun wool yarn, the
data would be entered as:
OB=yarn
MT=spun, hand; dyed
The shearing, washing, drying, carding and spinning
are understood to have occurred as parts of the
spinning process.
6.10
Raw vs. Processed Materials
When processed materials are employed in the
manufacture of an object, enter only those techniques that
directly resulted in the creation of the object identified
in the Object Name (OB) field. Do not list the techniques
used to prepare the materials for use in the object's
manufacture in the Technique field. If information relating
to the manufacture of an object's constituent materials is
desired, these data should be entered in the Cataloguer's
Remarks (CREM) field or Description (DE, DE2,... DE6)
fields.
Example
A roller printed blouse made of cotton fabric would be
entered as:
OB=blouse
MT=sewn, machine; printed, roller
CREM=Made of machine woven fabric.
Not as:
OB=blouse
MT=woven, machine; sewn, machine; printed, roller
6.11
Unknown and Attributed
If the manufacture technique is unknown at the time of
initial cataloguing, do not enter data in the technique
field. The term "Unknown" may be entered to indicate that
further research has not elucidated the technique employed.
Uncertain technique identifications may be entered and
followed by a space and a question mark (" ?"). Do not
enter terms such as "possibly", "probably", "might be", etc.
Use
Do Not Use
cast ?
welded ?
adhered ?; welded ?
unknown
cast?
welded (possibly)
welded or adhered
can't tell
7.0
Authority List for Technique (MT) Field
To assist control of the vocabulary employed in the
Technique field on the Humanities National Database, an authority
list of allowable terms was developed (see 12.3 Appendix 3 and
12.4 Appendix 4 where the list is presented in alphabetical order
and grouped into broad categories).
Like the Material authority list, the content of this list
was derived primarily from the Art and Architecture Thesaurus
(Petersen, 1990) and a controlled vocabulary of techniques
developed by P. Whan of the Wellington County Museum & Archives,
with modifications based on the submissions of several CHIN
client institutions and examination of the data currently
contained in the Humanities National Database.
In keeping with the standards outlined above, the authority
list contains basic, and occasionally more specific, terms
describing techniques in the past participle verb form. Terms
referring to extent or material of application and extremely
technical terms have been avoided. Terms were selected that
should be familiar to the majority of users and yet provide
vocabulary precise enough to be of some use to researchers in a
particular field.
The authority list contains both techniques of a primarily
formative nature and those that are generally decorative in
nature and would therefore be entered in the Decorative Technique
(DT) field. Both groups of techniques are included since the
distinction between functional techniques and purely decorative
techniques is often arbitrary. See also, 8.6 Decorative Technique
(DT), below.
Terms must be entered, as presented in the authority list
(eg. "woven, hand" not "hand woven"), to ensure proper sorting
and display and enable easier retrieval of records dealing with
related techniques.
It is likely that the vast majority of objects can be
described using this list of terms. However, this authority list
is not intended to contain every conceivable manufacture
technique that could be represented in the collections of CHIN
client institutions. In cases where the appropriate specific
term is not included in the list, the appropriate general term
should be used and the specific material data recorded in the
Cataloguer's Remarks (CREM) field or Description (DE, DE2,...
DE6) fields.
8.0
Related Fields
Within the CHIN database structure there are a number of
fields that are closely related to the Material (MA) and
Technique (MT) fields. Only two of these fields, Medium (MED)
and Support (SUP) are part of the Humanities National Database,
thus any information contained in the majority of these related
fields will not be directly accessible to users at the national
level.
8.1
Alternate Material Name (MAA)
Additional
recorded in the
Humanities Data
the use of this
or alternative names for materials are
Alternate Material Name field. The
Dictionary (Delroy, et al., 1988) defines
field as,
"This field lists foreign, native, or archaic
names for materials present in the Material field
(MA)."
Maximea (1989) recommended that the definition of this field
be expanded to include material Brand names, however this
modification solves only part of the problem. As it
currently exists, this field definition is overly
restrictive and is probably partly responsible for the
excessive clutter in the Material (MA) field. It is
recommended that the definition of this field be modified to
allow other material names including scientific or technical
terms, Latin names of plant and animal species, material
brand names or trade names and terms referring to specific
animal or plant parts from which materials originated.
This modification will allow removal of much of the
inappropriate data currently in the Material (MA) field.
The restriction of data in the Material (MA) field to
material names based only composition or origin will greatly
improve the ease and accuracy of information retrieval.
Moving alternate material classifications to the Alternate
Material Name (MAA) field allows users to maintain the
information within the artifact record on the database.
While removal of this alternative information to the
Alternate Material Name (MAA) field removes it from direct
access by those using the Humanities National Database, it
maintains the information in a retrievable form accessible
through communication with curatorial staff at the owning
institution.
Standards
Many of the same standards outlined for the Material
(MA) Field above should be employed with the Alternate
Material Name (MAA) field, however no authority list is
proposed for this field. Terms should be entered as:
- the proper nominal form of the material name
- singular terms only (unless the singular is
inappropriate)
- no abbreviations, codes or punctuation marks, other
than the semicolon (;), comma (,) and question mark
(?)
- terms in a list must be separated by the semicolon (;)
character only.
8.2
Additive Material (MAAD)
This field has a rather confusing definition outlined
in the Humanities Data Dictionary (Delroy et al., 1988),
"This field indicates the composition of parts
added to the item since it was originally produced,
or the temper in ceramics, or the pigment in glass."
The distinction of whether a material was incorporated at
the time of original manufacture or was added at some point
later is often difficult to ascertain. All materials
incorporated in the object should be listed in the Material
(MA) field, regardless of whether they were incorporated
during original manufacture or added later. It is
recommended that this field be redefined to indicate only
materials added during the manufacture of the object to
produce a particular quality or effect. This would include
materials such as tempering agents in ceramics, pigments in
glass, or metallic flakes in plastics or paints.
Identification of the presence of these materials can be
important when planning conservation or restoration
activities. It would not be necessary to list the component
metals incorporated in alloys such as brass or pewter since
the composition of most metal alloys is generally well
known.
If information relating to materials or parts added
after manufacture is desired, it should be entered in the
Description (DE, DE2,... DE6), Cataloguer's Remarks (CREM)
or History of Use (HU) fields.
Standards
Many of the same standards outlined for the Material
(MA) Field above should be employed with the Additive
Material (MAAD) field, however no authority list is proposed
for this field. Terms should be entered as:
- the proper nominal form of the material name
- singular terms only (unless the singular is
inappropriate)
- no abbreviations, codes or punctuation marks other
than the semicolon (;), comma (,) and question mark
(?)
- terms in a list must be separated by the semicolon (;)
character only.
- terms should be entered as a general term followed by
more specific information, to aid the retrieval of
related materials and proper sorting during display.
8.3
Use
Do Not Use
clay, laminated mica
dye, aniline
metal, aluminum flakes
laminated mica clay
aniline dyes
flakes of aluminum
Genus (GEN) and Species (SP)
These two fields form part of a larger group of fields
copied from the CHIN Natural Sciences Database to be used to
describe natural specimens catalogued as part of humanities
collections. As defined in the CHIN Humanities Data
Dictionary (Delroy, et al., 1988), these fields are to
contain the genus and species names of
"the specimen cited in the Object Name field (OB)."
While these definitions may prove adequate for cataloguing
some archaeological or ethnographic objects, they do not
permit inclusion of scientific identifications of species
employed as materials in manufactured objects. With rising
public and government interest in the status of rare and
endangered species, it becomes increasingly important that
information relating to species used as materials is stored
where it is easily retrievable. Thus, it is proposed that
the definitions of the Genus (GEN) and Species (SP) fields
be expanded to allow inclusion of species used as materials.
Placing material species identifications in these
fields provides a consistent place for all scientific names
to be stored, whether for entire objects or constituent
materials. This allows easier retrieval of records relating
to particular species and makes it easier to flag records of
objects containing species to which restrictions may apply.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) restricts the movement of endangered species, or
products derived from them, across national boundaries and
could have significant effects on travelling exhibits,
foreign acquisition of artifacts or the repatriation of
cultural artifacts. The importance of these activities and
the frequency with which users reported currently using the
Genus (GEN) and Species (SP) fields for recording material
species support increasing the availability of the
information contained in these fields. Thus, it is
recommended that these fields are incorporated into the
Humanities National Database.
Proper scientific nomenclature conventions should be
applied when using these fields. As such, a species
identification consists of both a genus name and a species
name. Genus names are to be placed in the Genus (GEN) field
and species names in the Species (SP) field. Since these
two fields are not phrase-linked, dealing with multiple
species requires great care. Multiple genus and species
names must be entered in the same order so that a match
exists between the genus name at a particular position in
the list of genus names and the species name at the same
position in the list in the species field.
entered as:
Standards
- Genus names are to be entered beginning with a capital
letter (eg. "Castor")
- Species names are usually entered without a capital
letter (eg. "canadensis")
- where a species has only been identified to genus
level, enter the term "sp." in the species field
- terms in a list must be separated by the semicolon (;)
character only.
- attributed or unconfirmed species or genus
identifications are to be indicated by a question mark
(?) following the name
- no abbreviations, codes or punctuation marks other
than "sp.", the semicolon (;) and question mark (?)
are to be used.
Examples
A raccoon skin hat would be entered as:
OB=Hat
MA=Skin, Racoon
GEN=Procyon
SP=lotor
A knife with a steel blade and handle of Caribou
antler would be entered as:
OB=Knife
MA=Metal, Steel; Antler, Caribou
GEN=Rangifer
SP=sp.
A birch bark trinket box sewn with sweetgrass and
decorated with porcupine quills would be entered as:
OB=box
OT=trinket
MA=bark, birch; grass, sweetgrass; quill, porcupine
GEN=Betula; Hierochloe; Erethizon
SP=papyrifera; odorata; dorsatum
A necklace of money cowrie shells and tooth shells
would be entered as:
OB=Necklace
MA=Shell, Cowrie; Shell, Tooth Shell
GEN=Cypraea; Dentalium
SP=annulus ?; sp.
8.4
Paste (PAS)
This field is to be used to indicate the nature or
identity of bonding agents used in the manufacture of the
object. This information can be very important during the
conservation, restoration or storage planning processes.
Since this field provides a location for the precise
identity, brand name, or other information relating to
bonding agents, only general terms based on origin
("adhesive", "adhesive, animal", "adhesive, plant" and
"adhesive, synthetic") were incorporated into the proposed
authority list for the Material (MA) field. Only the
presence of adhesive should be indicated in the Material
(MA) field so that information regarding the presence of
these materials is not lost to users of the Humanities
National Database.
Standards
The same basic standards outlined for the Material (MA)
Field above should be employed with the Paste (PAS) field,
however no authority list is proposed for this field. Terms
should be entered as:
- the proper nominal form of the material name or the
brand name
- singular terms only (unless the singular is
inappropriate)
- no abbreviations, codes or punctuation marks other
than the semicolon (;), comma (,) and question mark
(?)
- terms in a list must be separated by the semicolon (;)
character only.
Example
A table made of softwood, to which a teak veneer has
been glued with contact cement, would be entered as:
OB=table
MA=wood, soft; wood, teak; adhesive
PAS=contact cement
8.5
Art Terms: Medium (MED), Support (SUP), Medium
Brand Name (MEDBRN) and Medium Remarks (MEDREM)
There are a variety of fields that deal specifically
with materials and techniques related to the production of
fine art objects. There tends to be some overlap between
these fields and the Material (MA) and Technique (MT)
fields, especially where three-dimensional works of art are
concerned. The way in which these fields describe the
materials and techniques employed in fine arts differs from
the concepts of materials and techniques as applied to
objects of historical, ethnographic or archaeological nature
(Maximea, 1989). Sullivan (1989) provided tables of terms
in use in the Medium (MED) field but did not propose a list
of controlled terms. No attempt is made here to define the
content of these fields or develop lists of controlled
terms; these fields warrant further study considering the
special nature of this discipline.
It is a proposal of this report, however, that the
definition of the Medium Brand Name (MEDBRN) field be
expanded to permit the inclusion of brand or trade names of
materials used in humanities objects. This would result in
the creation of a single, consistent field to store and
search for all brand names of constituent materials whether
they were the materials used in heritage artifacts or the
media employed in works of art. Searching this single field
for medium/material brand names would allow the user to
locate all objects containing particular materials. For
example, searching for "Styrofoam" would retrieve all
humanities objects that were made of styrofoam as well as
all art objects where styrofoam was employed as a medium.
The adoption of structural standards for use with these
fields will enhance retrieval and utility of the data,
especially in the Medium (MED) and Support (SUP) fields, as
these fields are incorporated in the Humanities National
Database. Thus, a series of structural standards (similar
to those for the Material (MA) field, Section 4.0) is
proposed for use with these fine art fields.
Standards
Terms should be entered as:
- the proper nominal form of the material name
- singular terms only (unless the singular is
inappropriate)
- no abbreviations, codes or punctuation marks other
than the semicolon (;), comma (,) and question mark
(?)
- terms in a list must be separated by the semicolon (;)
character only.
8.6
Decorative Technique (DT)
Maximea (1989) observed that few CHIN client
institutions make use of the Decorative Technique (DT)
field, yet there are many instances of decorative techniques
listed in the Manufacture Technique (MT) field. This
discrepancy likely arises from a desire on the part of
cataloguers to provide as much information as possible to
Humanities National Database users (Decorative Technique
(DT) is not part of the National Database), and difficulty
in differentiating between the manufacture and decorative
techniques applied to an object. Two solutions to this
situation have been proposed: 1) incorporation of the
Decorative Technique (DT) field into the National Database,
and 2) elimination of the Decorative Technique (DT) field
and amalgamation of all technique data in a single Technique
(MT) field (Maximea, 1989).
The Humanities Data Dictionary (Delroy, et al., 1988)
defines a decorative technique as,
"the process used to apply a non-functional
decoration to the item".
In reality, the distinction between a non-functional
decoration and a decoration with some functional
significance tends to be unclear and often highly arbitrary.
For example, a relief moulded pattern around the neck of a
large earthenware jug may be highly decorative, yet makes
the jug easier to grasp; a beaded pattern on a cloth chair
back may be decorative, yet also resists wear of the cloth;
the paint applied to a wooden chair may improve the
appearance by concealing different wood types, yet protects
the chair from spills and wear. In fact it becomes very
difficult to identify purely non-functional decorative
techniques. For this reason, it is recommended that the
Decorative Technique (DT) field be eliminated from the CHIN
data dictionary and that the data in this field be
incorporated in the Manufacture Technique (MT) field
according to the standards outlined for that field (Section
6.0, above). In keeping with this recommendation, the
proposed authority list for the Manufacture Technique (MT)
field contains terms describing both manufacture techniques
and those commonly considered to be decorative in nature.
9.0
Retrieval Guidelines
The adoption of data standards for a database tends to
streamline the data entry process and enhance the uniformity of
the data entered. However, the greatest advantage inherent in
data standardization lies in the retrieval of information from
the database. The use of an authority list not only provides
terminology for use by data entry personnel but gives users a
list of terms to search for the desired information, and allows
greater confidence that all of the desired records have been
retrieved after a search.
The following are some brief guidelines designed to aid
retrieval of data that conform to the standards outlined above,
from the Humanities National Database:
- When searching for a broadly defined term (eg. "wood" or
"woven") use this term as the beginning of a stem search
such as,
LOOK MA=wood*
or
FIND MT=woven*
since this will yield all records that have data terms
beginning with the desired term. Searching for the desired
term only (eg. FIND MT=woven) will yield only those records
that contain the term as the entire entry and will not
include records with related data (eg. "woven, hand";
"woven, machine").
- When searching for a more specific term (eg. maple), select
the appropriate general/specific term in the authority list
(the lists grouped in broad categories will be helpful for
this) and search for this term. For example,
FIND MA=wood, maple
While these data could be retrieved by searching for
occurrences of the desired data in any position within the
entry (eg. FIND MA=*maple*) this type of search is extremely
slow and taxes computer resources.
- To retrieve data relating to a single source of material
(eg. all objects made from deer materials), the user could
search the database for any occurrence of the phrase "deer".
However, this extremely slow search can be avoided by
consulting the authority list (grouped by category) and
selecting all of the accepted terms that relate to the
desired source (in the "Deer" example above, deer materials
will be entered as "Skin, Deer", "Hair, Deer", "Antler,
Deer", or "Bone, Deer"). Discrete searches for each term or
a combined search for all of the terms, such as
FIND MA=(skin, deer or hair, deer or antler, deer
or bone, deer)
will yield results much faster than the 'FIND MA=*deer*'
search.
- Even when a general/specific term pair is known for a given
material or technique, it may be beneficial to use a stem
search beginning with this term in order to retrieve data
that are both certain and attributed to be that material or
technique. For example,
FIND MT=welded, arc*
will yield records with entries of both "welded, arc" and
"welded, arc ?".
10.0
Conclusion
This report proposes a series of standards for controlling
the structure and content of data describing materials and
techniques on the CHIN Humanities National Database. These
standards and the proposed authority lists of controlled
vocabulary will not address every situation that may arise in the
description of heritage artifacts. However, the standards have
been developed with the consistent understanding that the
Material (MA) and Technique (MT) fields will be primarily used as
retrieval tools by many users with widely varying degrees of
expertise.
To enhance the utility of these fields, the proposed
standards and authority lists have been developed to minimize the
numbers of discrete entries while attempting to retain enough
diversity of terminology to enable a high degree of utility of
the data within these fields. Several recommendations have been
made regarding the definitions and continued use of some of the
fields related to the Material (MA) and Technique (MT) fields.
11.0
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Pat Young, Documentation
Research (CHIN) for her guidance and assistance in this project
and M. Bradley, A.-M. Juwah and I. Sutherland (CHIN) for their
helpful reviews of the original draft of this report. In
addition, many thanks to M. Elwood, S. Robson, D. Trask,
P. Collins, D. McNabb, V. Lenethen, R. Grantham (Nova Scotia
Museum); P. Whan, E. Langlands (Wellington County Museum &
Archives); J. Morier (Saskatchewan Heritage Information Network);
G. Ansell (Geological Survey of Canada); E. Taylor (Royal British
Columbia Museum); J. Letteri (Hiram Walker Historical Museum); S.
McKessock (Art Gallery of Ontario); R. Baird and W. Mattie
(Canadian Museum of Civilization) for their helpful input and
advice.
12.0
References
Blackaby, J. R., P. Greeno, and the Nomenclature Committee
(1988) The Revised Nomenclature for Museum
Cataloging. Amer. Assoc. for State and Local Hist.
(AASLH), Nashville.
CHIN
(1989) PARIS User's Guide.
Network, Ottawa.
Canadian Heritage Information
CHIN
(1991) Untitled. Canadian Heritage Information Network,
Ottawa. Spring, 1991.
Delroy, S. H. (1991) Object Name and Related Standards.
Manuscript prepared for Documentation Research,
Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
---
Draft
, D. F. Jewett & R. A. Bellamy (1988) Humanities Data
Dictionary for the Canadian Heritage Information
Network. Canadian Heritage Information Network,
Ottawa.
Jewett, D. F. & C. McEachern (1985) Standards and Terminology
for the Recording of Culture in the Humanities Data
Dictionary. Draft Manuscript prepared by
Documentation Research, Canadian Heritage Information
Network, Ottawa.
Maximea, H. (1989) Possibly Real Gold... Standards for Usage
of the Material, Technique and Related Fields on the
CHIN Humanities Databases. Draft Manuscript prepared
for Documentation Research, Canadian Heritage
Information Network, Ottawa.
Petersen, T. (Dir.) (1990) The Art & Architecture Thesaurus.
3 Vols. Oxford University Press for the Getty Art
History Information Program, New York.
Sullivan, M. (1989) Standards for Fine Arts Object Names.
Draft Manuscript prepared for Canadian Heritage
Information Network, Ottawa.
13.0
Appendices
The following appendices contain authority lists for the
Material (MA) and Technique (MT) fields. Each authority list is
presented in alphabetical order and grouped into broad
categories. The content of these lists is derived primarily from
the Art and Architecture Thesaurus (Petersen, 1990) and a
controlled vocabulary developed by P. Whan of the Wellington
County Museum & Archives. The resulting lists were then modified
based on submissions of lists of terms in use by numerous CHIN
client institutions and examination of the data contained in the
Humanities National Database.
Following the authority lists is a short bibliography of
reference works for the cataloguing of materials and/or
techniques. This bibliography is derived from the responses of
registrars and curators to a request for references to commonly
used cataloguing reference works.
13.1
Appendix 1:
Authority List
Material
(Alphabetical)
The following is an authority list of terms to be used in
the Material (MA) field. Terms are grouped alphabetically. Both
general and more specific terms are presented and selections
should be made according to the most precise identification of
the material of concern. Additional information on the use of
specific terms can be found in the footnotes accompanying
Appendix 2. See 13.2 Authority List: Material (by Category).
Authority List
Material
(Alphabetical)
A
Adhesive
Adhesive, Animal
Adhesive, Natural
Adhesive, Plant
Adhesive, Synthetic
Antler
Antler, Caribou
Antler, Deer
Antler, Moose
Antler, Wapiti
B
Baleen
Bark
Bark, Birch
Bark, Cedar
Bark, Mulberry
Bill
Bill, Parrot
Bill, Puffin
Blood
Bone
Bone, Bear
Bone, Beaver
Bone, Bird
Bone, Bison
Bone, Caribou
Bone, Cow
Bone, Deer
Bone, Fish
Bone, Fox
Bone, Horse
Bone, Human
Bone, Mammal
Bone, Moose
Bone, Rabbit
Bone, Raccoon
Bone, Reptile
Bone, Seal
Bone, Sheep
Bone, Walrus
Bone, Wapiti
Bone, Whale
C
Ceramic
Ceramic, Bone China
Ceramic, Creamware
Ceramic, Earthenware
Ceramic, Porcelain
Ceramic, Raku
Ceramic, Stoneware
Ceramic, Terracotta
Charcoal
Claw
Claw, Bear
Clay
Concrete
Cone
Cone, Fir
Cone, Pine
Cone, Spruce
Coral
Cork
D
Dung
Dung, Guano
Dye
Dye, Aniline
Dye, Indigo
Dye, Plant
Dye, Synthetic
E
Enamel
F
Feather
Feather, Duck
Feather, Eagle
Feather, Goose
Feather, Ostrich
Feather, Owl
Feather, Partridge
Feather, Peacock
Feather, Pheasant
Feather, Turkey
Fibre
Fibre, Asbestos
Fibre, Coconut
Fibre, Cotton
Fibre, Flax
Fibre, Hemp
Fibre, Jute
Fibre, Natural
Fibre, Palm
Fibre, Plant
Fibre, Raffia
Fibre, Ramie
Fibre, Rayon
Fibre, Silk
Fibre, Sisal
Fibre, Synthetic1
Foot, Bird
Foot, Caribou
Foot, Deer
Foot, Mammal
Foot, Moose
Foot, Rabbit
Fruit
Fruit, Gourd
Fungus
G
Glass
Glaze
Grass2
Grass, Bamboo
Grass, Reed
Grass, Sweetgrass
H
Hair
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Alpaca
Bear
Cat
Cow
Deer
Dog
Goat
Horse
Human
---------------------------------------------------------------1 The term "Fibre, Synthetic" is used to refer to any synthetic
textile material that has not been precisely identified.
2
The term "Grass" refers to both the stems and leaves of grasses.
It is often hard to distinguish stems from leaves when grasses
are used as materials and in some processes, such as basketry,
both are often used together.
Hair, Moose
Hair, Muskox
Hair, Seal
Hair, Sheep
Horn
Horn,
Horn,
Horn,
Horn,
Horn,
Horn,
Horn,
Horn,
Antelope
Bison
Cow
Goat
Muskox
Pronghorn
Rhinoceros
Sheep
I
Ink
Ink, Sepia3
Intestine
Intestine, Horse
Intestine, Sea Lion
Intestine, Sheep
Ivory
Ivory, Elephant
Ivory, Hippopotamus
Ivory, Narwhal
Ivory, Pig
Ivory, Walrus
Ivory, Whale
L
Lacquer
Lacquer, Natural
Lacquer, Synthetic
Leaf
Leaf, Banana
Leaf, Cattail
Leaf, Palm
Leaf, Raffia
Leaf, Tobacco
--------------------------------------------------------------3 The term "Sepia" is used to refer to the brown pigmented ink
derived from the secretions of cuttlefish (Sepia sp.).
M
Metal
Metal, Aluminum
Metal, Babbitt
Metal, Brass
Metal, Bronze
Metal, Copper
Metal, Electrum
Metal, German Silver
Metal, Gold
Metal, Gunmetal
Metal, Iron
Metal, Lead
Metal, Magnesium
Metal, Mercury
Metal, Nickel
Metal, Pewter
Metal, Platinum
Metal, Silver
Metal, Solder
Metal, Steel
Metal, Tin
Metal, Titanium
Metal, Tungsten
Metal, Zinc
Mineral
Mineral, Agate
Mineral, Amethyst
Mineral, Chert
Mineral, Diamond
Mineral, Emerald
Mineral, Feldspar
Mineral, Flint
Mineral, Garnet
Mineral, Graphite
Mineral, Gypsum
Mineral, Jade
Mineral, Jet
Mineral, Lapis Lazuli
Mineral, Mica
Mineral, Ochre
Mineral, Onyx
Mineral, Opal
Mineral, Pyrite
Mineral, Quartz
Mineral, Ruby
Mineral, Sapphire
Mineral, Sulfur
Mineral, Topaz
Mineral, Turquoise
Mineral, Zircon
Mortar
N
Nut
Nut,
Nut,
Nut,
Nut,
Acorn
Coconut
Tauga
Walnut
P
Paint
Paint, Acrylic
Paint, Enamel
Paint, Gouache
Paint, Latex
Paint, Oil
Paint, Water
Paper
Paper, Mulberry
Paper, Rag
Paper, Rice
Paper, Wood
Pearl
Pigment
Pigment, Ochre
Plaster
Plaster, Gypsum
Plastic
Plastic, Acetate
Plastic, Acrylic
Plastic, Celluloid
Plastic, Epoxy
Plastic, Glass reinforced
Plastic, Nylon
Plastic, Olefin
Plastic, Polyester
Plastic, Polyethylene
Plastic, Polystyrene
Plastic, Vinyl
Q
Quill
Quill, Feather
Quill, Porcupine
R
Rattan
Resin
Resin, Amber
Resin, Pine
Root
Root, Spruce
Rubber
Rubber, Butyl
Rubber, Natural
Rubber, Silicone
Rubber, Synthetic
S
Sand
Seed
Seed, Bean
Shell
Shell, Abalone
Shell, Clam
Shell, Coconut
Shell, Cowrie
Shell, Mother of Pearl
Shell, Mussel
Shell, Nautilus
Shell, Oyster
Shell, Peanut
Shell, Scallop
Shell, Snail
Shell, Tooth Shell
Shell, Tortoise
Shell, Walnut
Sinew
Skin4
Skin, Bear
Skin, Beaver
Skin, Bird
Skin, Bison
Skin, Chamois
Skin, Cow
Skin, Coyote
Skin, Deer
Skin, Ermine
Skin, Fish
--------------------------------------------------------------4 The term "Skin" is used to refer to animal hide or skin whether
naked (hair or scales removed) or with hair or scales attached
(eg. fur).
Skin, Fox
Skin, Lizard
Skin, Mammal
Skin, Mink
Skin, Muskrat
Skin, Otter
Skin, Parchment
Skin, Pig
Skin, Racoon
Skin, Reptile
Skin, Seal
Skin, Shark
Skin, Snake
Skin, Wapiti
Skin, Wolf
Spine, Urchin
Sponge
Stone
Stone, Basalt
Stone, Dacite
Stone, Felsite
Stone, Gneiss
Stone, Granite
Stone, Limestone
Stone, Marble
Stone, Mudstone
Stone, Obsidian
Stone, Petrified Wood
Stone, Pumice
Stone, Quartzite
Stone, Rhyolite
Stone, Sandstone
Stone, Schist
Stone, Serpentine
Stone, Shale
Stone, Slate
Stone, Soapstone
T
Tallow
Tallow, Deer
Tallow, Cow
Tooth
Tooth, Bear
Tooth, Beaver
Tooth, Fish
Tooth, Muskrat
Tooth, Shark
Tooth, Wapiti
Tooth, Whale
V
Varnish
Varnish, Natural
Varnish, Synthetic
W
Wax
Wax, Beeswax
Wax, Carnauba
Wax, Paraffin
Wood
Wood, Alder
Wood, Apple
Wood, Arbor vitae5
Wood, Ash
Wood, Balsa
Wood, Basswood
Wood, Beech
Wood, Birch
Wood, Boxwood
Wood, Bubinga
Wood, Butternut
Wood, Cedar
Wood, Cherry
Wood, Chestnut
Wood, Cocobolo
Wood, Composite6
Wood, Cypress
Wood, Dogwood
Wood, Ebony
Wood, Elderberry
Wood, Elm
Wood, Fir
Wood, Hard
Wood, Hawthorn
Wood, Hemlock
Wood, Hickory
Wood, Holly
---------------------------------------------------------------5 These terms are cases where Latin derived names are permitted in
the Material (MA) field since these names are in common English
usage and are not the proper scientific names.
6
This term is used for all wood materials manufactured from
wood products (eg. shavings, sawdust, veneer, etc.) and
adhesives to form a solid material. Examples include plywood,
particle board, wafer board, hardboard, and arborite.
These
(trade) names should be placed in the Alternate Material Name
(MAA) field.
Wood, Hornbeam
Wood, Iroko
Wood, Ironwood
Wood, Kingwood
Wood, Lacewood
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Larch
Lemon
Lignum vitae5
Linden
Locust
Mahogany
Mangrove
Maple
Oak
Olive
Palm
Pear
Persimmon
Pine
Poplar
Purpleheart
Redwood
Rosewood
Sandalwood
Satinwood
Soft
Spruce
Teak
Tulipwood
Walnut
Willow
Yew
Zebrano
---------------------------------------------------------------5 These terms are cases where Latin derived names are permitted in
the Material (MA) field since these names are in common English
usage and are not the proper scientific names.
13.2
Appendix 2:
Authority List
Material
(by Category)
The following list is an authority list of terms to be used
in the Material (MA) field.
Terms are grouped in broad
categories according to origin of material.
Both general and
more specific terms are presented and selections should be made
according to the most precise identification of the material of
concern.
Additional information on the use of specific terms
can be found in the accompanying footnotes.
AUTHORITY LIST
Materials
ANIMAL MATERIALS - FUR, HAIR, HIDE, LEATHER and SKIN
Hair
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Hair,
Skin1
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Skin,
Alpaca
Bear
Cat
Cow
Deer
Dog
Goat
Horse
Human
Moose
Muskox
Seal
Sheep
Bear
Beaver
Bird
Bison
Chamois
Cow
Coyote
Deer
Ermine
Fish
Fox
Lizard
Mink
Muskrat
Otter
Parchment
Pig
Racoon
Reptile
Seal
Shark
Snake
Wapiti
Wolf
--------------------------------------------------------------1 The term "Skin" is used to refer to animal hide or skin whether
naked (hair or scales removed) or with hair or scales attached
(eg. fur).
ANIMAL MATERIALS - ANTLER, BONE, IVORY, TOOTH, HORN
Antler
Antler, Caribou
Antler, Deer
Antler, Moose
Antler, Wapiti
Bone
Bone, Bear
Bone, Beaver
Bone, Bird
Bone, Bison
Bone, Caribou
Bone, Cow
Bone, Deer
Bone, Fish
Bone, Fox
Bone, Horse
Bone, Human
Bone, Mammal
Bone, Moose
Bone, Rabbit
Bone, Raccoon
Bone, Reptile
Bone, Seal
Bone, Sheep
Bone, Walrus
Bone, Whale
Bone, Wapiti
Horn
Horn, Antelope
Horn, Bison
Horn, Cow
Horn, Goat
Horn, Pronghorn
Horn, Rhinoceros
Horn, Sheep
Ivory
Ivory, Elephant
Ivory, Hippopotamus
Ivory, Narwhal
Ivory, Pig
Ivory, Walrus
Ivory, Whale
Tooth
Tooth, Bear
Tooth, Beaver
Tooth, Fish
Tooth, Muskrat
Tooth, Shark
Tooth, Wapiti
Tooth, Whale
ANIMAL MATERIALS - MISCELLANEOUS
Adhesive, Animal
Baleen
Bill
Bill, Parrot
Bill, Puffin
Blood
Claw
Claw, Bear
Coral
Dung
Dung, Guano
Feather
Feather, Duck
Feather, Eagle
Feather, Goose
Feather, Ostrich
Feather, Owl
Feather, Partridge
Feather, Pheasant
Feather, Peacock
Feather, Turkey
Fibre, Silk
Foot, Bird
Foot, Caribou
Foot, Deer
Foot, Mammal
Foot, Moose
Foot, Rabbit
Ink, Sepia2
Intestine
Intestine, Horse
Intestine, Sea Lion
Intestine, Sheep
Pearl
Quill
Quill, Feather
Quill, Porcupine
Sinew
Shell
Shell, Abalone
Shell, Cowrie
Shell, Clam
Shell, Mother of Pearl
Shell, Mussel
Shell, Nautilus
--------------------------------------------------------------2 The term "Sepia" is used to refer to the brown pigmented ink
derived from the secretions of cuttlefish (Sepia sp.).
ANIMAL MATERIALS - MISCELLANEOUS
(Cont'd)
Shell, Oyster
Shell, Scallop
Shell, Snail
Shell, Tortoise
Shell, Tooth Shell
Spine, Urchin
Sponge
Tallow
Tallow, Cow
Tallow, Dear
Wax
Wax, Beeswax
PLANT MATERIALS - WOOD
Wood
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Alder
Apple
Arbor vitae3
Ash
Balsa
Basswood
Beech
Birch
Boxwood
Bubinga
Butternut
Cedar
Cherry
Chestnut
Cocobolo
Composite4
Cypress
Dogwood
---------------------------------------------------------------3 These terms are cases where Latin derived names are permitted in
the Material (MA) field since these names are in common English
usage and are not the proper scientific names.
4
This term is used for all wood materials manufactured from
wood products (eg. shavings, sawdust, veneer, etc.) and
adhesives to form a solid material. Examples include plywood,
particle board, wafer board, hardboard, and arborite.
These
(trade) names should be placed in the Alternate Material Name
(MAA) field.
PLANT MATERIALS - WOOD (Cont'd)
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Wood,
Ebony
Elderberry
Elm
Fir
Hard
Hawthorn
Hemlock
Hickory
Holly
Hornbeam
Iroko
Ironwood
Lacewood
Larch
Lemon
Lignum vitae3
Linden
Locust
Kingwood
Mahogany
Mangrove
Maple
Oak
Olive
Palm
Pear
Persimmon
Pine
Poplar
Purpleheart
Redwood
Rosewood
Sandalwood
Satinwood
Soft
Spruce
Teak
Tulipwood
Walnut
Willow
Yew
Zebrano
---------------------------------------------------------------3 These terms are cases where Latin derived names are permitted in
the Material (MA) field since these names are in common English
usage and are not the proper scientific names.
PLANT MATERIALS - MISCELLANEOUS
Adhesive, Plant
Bark
Bark, Cedar
Bark, Birch
Bark, Mulberry
Cone
Cone, Fir
Cone, Pine
Cone, Spruce
Cork
Charcoal
Dye, Indigo
Dye, Plant
Fibre, Coconut
Fibre, Cotton
Fibre, Flax
Fibre, Hemp
Fibre, Jute
Fibre, Palm
Fibre, Plant
Fibre, Raffia
Fibre, Ramie
Fibre, Rayon
Fibre, Sisal
Fruit
Fruit, Gourd
Fungus
Grass5
Grass, Bamboo
Grass, Reed
Grass, Sweetgrass
Leaf
Leaf, Banana
Leaf, Cattail
Leaf, Palm
Leaf, Raffia
Leaf, Tobacco
Nut
Nut, Acorn
Nut, Coconut
Nut, Tauga
Nut, Walnut
---------------------------------------------------------------5 The term "Grass" refers to both the stems and leaves of grasses.
It is often hard to distinguish stems from leaves when grasses
are used as materials and in some processes, such as basketry,
both are often used together.
PLANT MATERIALS - MISCELLANEOUS (Cont'd)
Paper
Paper, Mulberry
Paper, Rice
Paper, Wood
Rattan
Resin
Resin, Amber
Resin, Pine
Root
Root, Spruce
Rubber
Seed
Seed, Bean
Shell, Peanut
Shell, Coconut
Shell, Walnut
Wax
Wax, Carnauba
METAL
Metal
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Metal,
Aluminum
Babbitt
Brass
Bronze
Copper
Electrum
German Silver
Gold
Gunmetal
Iron
Lead
Magnesium
Mercury
Nickel
Pewter
Platinum
Silver
Solder
Steel
Tin
Titanium
Tungsten
Zinc
STONE
Concrete
Mortar
Sand
Stone
Stone, Dacite
Stone, Felsite
Stone, Granite
Stone, Rhyolite
Stone, Basalt
Stone, Petrified Wood
Stone, Pumice
Stone, Obsidian
Stone, Mudstone
Stone, Shale
Stone, Limestone
Stone, Sandstone
Stone, Gneiss
Stone, Marble
Stone, Quartzite
Stone, Schist
Stone, Serpentine
Stone, Slate
Stone, Soapstone
CLAY
Clay
Ceramic
Ceramic,
Ceramic,
Ceramic,
Ceramic,
Ceramic,
Ceramic,
Ceramic,
Bone China
Creamware
Earthenware
Terracotta
Porcelain
Raku
Stoneware
MINERALS
Charcoal
Fibre, Asbestos
Glass
Mineral
Mineral, Agate
Mineral, Amethyst
Mineral, Diamond
Mineral, Chert
MINERALS
(Cont'd)
Mineral, Emerald
Mineral, Feldspar
Mineral, Flint
Mineral, Garnet
Mineral, Graphite
Mineral, Gypsum
Mineral, Jade
Mineral, Jet
Mineral, Lapis Lazuli
Mineral, Mica
Mineral, Ochre
Mineral, Onyx
Mineral, Opal
Mineral, Pyrite
Mineral, Quartz
Mineral, Ruby
Mineral, Sapphire
Mineral, Sulfur
Mineral, Topaz
Mineral, Turquoise
Mineral, Zircon
Wax
Wax, Paraffin
TEXTILES
Fibre
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Fibre,
Paper,
Coconut
Cotton
Flax
Hemp
Jute
Palm
Plant
Raffia
Ramie
Rayon
Silk
Sisal
Synthetic6
Rag
---------------------------------------------------------------5 The term "Fibre, Synthetic" is used to refer to any synthetic
textile material that has not been precisely identified.
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
Adhesive, Synthetic
Dye, Aniline
Dye, Synthetic
Fibre, Synthetic
Lacquer, Synthetic
Plastic
Plastic, Acetate
Plastic, Acrylic
Plastic, Celluloid
Plastic, Epoxy
Plastic, Glass reinforced
Plastic, Nylon
Plastic, Olefin
Plastic, Polyester
Plastic, Polyethylene
Plastic, Polystyrene
Plastic, Vinyl
Rubber, Butyl
Rubber, Silicone
Rubber, Synthetic
Wax
MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS
Adhesive
Adhesive, Animal
Adhesive, Natural
Adhesive, Plant
Dye
Dye, Aniline
Dye, Indigo
Dye, Plant
Dye, Synthetic
Enamel
Fibre, Asbestos
Fibre, Natural
Fungus
Glass
Glaze
Ink
Ink, Sepia2
Lacquer
Lacquer, Natural
Lacquer, Synthetic
--------------------------------------------------------------2 The term "Sepia" is used to refer to the brown pigmented ink
derived from the secretions of cuttlefish (Sepia sp.).
MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS
Paint
Paint, Acrylic
Paint, Enamel
Paint, Gouache
Paint, Latex
Paint, Oil
Paint, Water
Paper
Paper, Mulberry
Paper, Rag
Paper, Rice
Paper, Wood
Pigment
Pigment, Ochre
Plaster
Plaster, Gypsum
Rubber
Rubber, Natural
Varnish
Wax
Wax, Beeswax
Wax, Carnauba
Wax, Paraffin
(Cont'd)
13.3
Appendix 3:
Authority List
Manufacture Technique
(Alphabetical)
The following list is an authority list of terms to be used
in the Manufacture Technique (MT) field. In keeping with the
recommendation that the Manufacture Technique (MT) and Decorative
Technique (DT) fields be amalgamated, this list contains both
manufacture techniques and decorative techniques. Techniques
that are usually decorative in nature have been listed in
italics, while techniques that may be either formative or
decorative have been identified with footnotes.
AUTHORITY LIST
Manufacture Technique
A
Abraded1
Adhered
Adzed
Annealed
Anodized
Appliquéd
B
Beaded
Beaten
Bent
Bitten
Bleached
Blown
Blown, Free
Blown, Mould
Boiled
Bolted
Bored2
Bound
Braided
Burned3
C
Carded
Carved
Carved3
Cast
Cast, Investment
Cast, Lost wax
Cast, Sand
Caulked
Chiselled
Coil built
Crimped
---------------------------------------------------------------1 Refers to "Filed", "Ground", "Honed", "Sanded", etc.
2
Refers to "Drilled", "Reamed", etc.
3
These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
Crocheted
Cured
Cut
Cut
D
Damascened
Dipped
Dowelled
Drawn
Dried
Dyed
E
Embossed
Embroidered
Embroidered, Hand
Embroidered, Machine
Enamelled
Engraved
Etched
Extruded
F
Felted
Fired
Flaked
Forged
G
Galvanized
Gilded
Gilded, Oil
Gilded, Water
Glazed
Gouged
H
Hammered3
Hewn
Hooked
---------------------------------------------------------------3 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
I
Impressed
Incised
Inlaid4
J
Joined
K
Knitted
Knitted, Hand
Knitted, Machine
Knotted
Knurled
L
Lacquered
Laminated
Lashed
M
Moulded
Moulded,
Moulded,
Moulded,
Moulded,
Moulded3
Injection
Press3
Relief3
Vacuum
N
Nailed
Netted
P
Painted
Painted, Hand
Painted, Spray
Pecked
Pegged
---------------------------------------------------------------3 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
4
Includes "Marquetry".
Pickled
Planed
Plated3
Polished5
Pressed
Printed
Printed, Transfer
Punched3
Q
Quilled
Quilted
R
Repoussed
Riveted
Rolled
S
Sandblasted
Sawn
Scraped
Screwed
Sewn
Sewn, Hand
Sewn, Machine
Shaved
Shredded
Sized
Slab built
Smocked
Smoked
Soldered
Spliced
Split
Spun
Spun, Hand
Spun, Machine
Stained
Stained
Stamped3
---------------------------------------------------------------3 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
5
Includes "Buffed" and "Burnished".
Stretched
Stuffed
Stapled
Steamed
T
Tanned
Tanned, Brain
Tanned, Chrome
Tanned, Oil
Tanned, Smoke
Tanned, Vegetable
Tempered
Tempered
Thrown
Tinned
Tinted
Tinted, Hand
Tooled
Turned3
U
Upholstered
V
Varnished
Veneered3
W
Welded, Arc
Welded, Forge
Welded, Gas
Welded, Spot
Welded3
Whittled
Woven
Woven, Hand
Woven, Machine
---------------------------------------------------------------3 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
13.4
Appendix 4:
Authority List
Manufacture Technique
(by Category)
The following list is an authority list of terms to be used
in the Manufacture Technique (MT) field. The list of terms is the
same as that presented in Appendix 3, above, but the terms have
been grouped into broad categories relating to the subject
materials.
In keeping with the recommendation that the
Manufacture Technique (MT) and Decorative Technique (DT) fields be
amalgamated, this list contains both manufacture techniques and
decorative techniques. Techniques that are usually decorative in
nature have been listed in italics, while techniques that may be
either formative or decorative have been identified with
footnotes.
AUTHORITY LIST
Manufacture Technique
(by Category)
TEXTILE-WORKING TECHNIQUES
Appliquéd
Beaded
Beaten
Braided
Carded
Crocheted
Dyed
Embroidered
Embroidered, Hand
Embroidered, Machine
Felted
Hooked
Knitted
Knitted, Hand
Knitted, Machine
Knotted
Netted
Painted
Printed
Quilted
Sewn
Sewn, Hand
Sewn, Machine
Sized
Smocked
Spun
Spun, Hand
Spun, Machine
Stretched
Stuffed
Upholstered
Woven
Woven, Hand
Woven, Machine
METAL-WORKING TECHNIQUES
Anodized
Annealed
Beaten
Bolted
Cast
Cast, Investment
Cast, Lost wax
Cast, Sand
Crimped
Damascened
Drawn
Enamelled
Engraved
Etched
Extruded
Gilded
Forged
Galvanized
Hammered1
Inlaid
Knurled
Lacquered
Pickled
Plated1
Polished2
Punched
Repoussed
Riveted
Rolled
Soldered
Stamped1
Tempered
Tinned
Turned1
Welded1
Welded, Arc
Welded, Forge
Welded, Gas
Welded, Spot
---------------------------------------------------------------1 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
2
Includes "Buffed" and "Burnished".
GLASS, STONE, AND CLAY-WORKING TECHNIQUES
Abraded3
Annealed
Blown
Blown, Free
Blown, Mould
Carved
Coil built
Cut
Dipped
Enamelled
Engraved
Etched
Fired
Flaked
Gilded
Glazed
Impressed
Incised
Moulded1
Moulded, Press1
Moulded, Relief1
Painted
Painted, Hand
Pecked
Polished
Printed
Printed, Transfer
Sandblasted
Slab built
Tempered
Thrown
Turned
---------------------------------------------------------------1 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
3
Refers to "Filed", "Ground", "Honed", "Sanded", etc.
WOOD, BONE, AND IVORY-WORKING TECHNIQUES
Abraded3
Adhered
Adzed
Bent
Bolted
Bored4
Burned1
Carved1
Chiselled
Dowelled
Engraved
Gilded
Gouged
Hewn
Inlaid5
Joined
Laminated
Lacquered
Lashed
Nailed
Painted
Pegged
Planed
Polished
Pressed
Printed
Sawn
Screwed
Shaved
Split
Stained
Steamed
Turned
Varnished
Veneered1
Whittled
---------------------------------------------------------------1 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
3
Refers to "Filed", "Ground", "Honed", "Sanded", etc.
4
Refers to "Drilled", "Reamed", etc.
4
Includes "Marquetry".
SKIN AND LEATHER-WORKING TECHNIQUES
Abraded3
Adhered
Appliquéd
Beaten
Bitten
Braided
Cured
Cut
Dried
Dyed
Embossed
Enamelled
Gilded
Painted
Punched1
Riveted
Sewn
Sewn, Hand
Sewn, Machine
Scraped
Shredded
Smoked
Split
Stained
Stretched
Tanned
Tanned, Brain
Tanned, Chrome
Tanned, Oil
Tanned, Smoke
Tanned, Vegetable
Tooled
Woven
Woven, Hand
Woven, Machine
---------------------------------------------------------------1 These terms may refer to both formative manufacture techniques
and decorative techniques.
3
Refers to "Filed", "Ground", "Honed", "Sanded", etc.
MISCELLANEOUS TECHNIQUES
Adhered
Bitten
Bleached
Boiled
Bound
Cast
Cast, Investment
Cast, Lost wax
Cast, Sand
Caulked
Dried
Dyed
Extruded
Gilded
Gilded, Oil
Gilded, Water
Joined
Moulded
Moulded, Injection
Moulded, Press
Moulded, Relief
Moulded, Vacuum
Painted
Painted, Spray
Printed
Quilled
Tinted
Tinted, Hand
Shredded
Smoked
Spliced
Stapled
13.5
Appendix 5:
Cataloguing References
The following is a short bibliography of selected reference
works for the cataloguing of historical artifacts with particular
reference to materials and manufacture techniques. This list is
not intended to be an exhaustive bibliography for cataloguing
historical artifacts, but represents the titles most commonly used
by many CHIN client curators and registrars.
This bibliography
was developed from the responses of registrars and curators when
asked to provide commonly used reference works and from the
bibliography presented by Maximea (1989).
Barber, E. A. (1909) Pottery and Porcelain of the United
States and Marks of American Potters.
Feingold
Lewis.
&
Barefoot, A. C. (1982) Identification of Modern and Tertiary
Woods. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Bendure, Z. (1946) America's Fabrics: origin & history,
manufacture, characteristics and uses. Macmillan Co.,
New York.
Bishop, R.
(1972) Centuries and Styles of the American Chair,
1640-1970. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.
Blackaby,
J. R., P. Greeno, and the Nomenclature Committee
(1988)
The
Revised
Nomenclature
for
Museum
Cataloging.
Amer. Assoc. for State and Local Hist.
(AASLH), Nashville.
Briggs, J.
(1975a) Nova Scotia Museums Collections Inventory:
A general guide to describing artifacts. Nova Scotia
Museum, Halifax.
--
(1975b) Nova Scotia Museums Collections Inventory:
Guide Number 2, Costume. Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax.
Buchon, D. (Ed.) (1965) The Dictionary of Metallurgy.
Newnes, London.
G.
Burnham, D. (1980) Warp and Weft: A textile terminology.
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
Burnham, H. & D. Burnham (1972) Keep Me Warm One Night: Early
Handweaving in Eastern Canada. University of Toronto
Press, Toronto.
Channing, M. L. (1971) The Textile Tools of Colonial Homes.
Marion L. Channing, Marion, MA.
Chenhall, R. G. (1978) Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging.
Amer. Assoc. for State and Local Hist. (AASLH),
Nashville.
Collard, E. (1967) Nineteenth Century Pottery and Porcelain in
Canada. McGill University Press, Montreal.
Coysh, A. W. & R. K. Henrywood (1982) The Dictionary of Blue
and
White
Printed
Pottery
1780-1880.
Antique
Collectors Club Ltd.
Cushion, J. (1985) An Illustrated Dictionary of Ceramics.
Ed. University of California Press.
3rd
Dubrow, E. & R. Dubrow (1982) Furniture Made in America,
1875-1905. Schiffer Pub. Ltd., Exton, PE.
Ellacott, S. E.
Emery, I.
(1964)
Forge and Foundry.
Methuen, London.
(1980) Primary Structures of Fabrics: an illustrated
classification. The Textile Museum, Washington.
Fairbanks, J. L. & E. B. Bates (1981) American Furniture, 1620
to the present. Richard Marek Pub., New York.
Fisher, D. & R. Bragonier Jr. (1982) What's What: A visual
glossary of the physical world. Ballantine, New York.
Frelinghuysen, A. C. (1989) American Porcelain.
Museum of Art, New York.
Gloag, J.
Metropolitan
(1965) A Short Dictionary of Furniture.
Inc., New York.
Crown Pub.
Godden, G. A. (1964) Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and
Porcelain Marks. Barrie & Jenkins, London.
Haggard, R. E. (1962) A Dictionary of Art Terms.
Books, New York.
Hawthorn
Hillier, B. (1968) Pottery and Porcelain 1700-1914.
Press, New York.
Meredith
Howard, D. & J. Ayers (1978) China for the West. 2 Vols.
Sotheby Parke Bennet, New York.
Jones, O. R. (1986) Cylindrical English Wine and Beer Bottles
1735-1850.
Environment
Canada,
Canadian
Parks
Service, Ottawa.
Jones, O. R. & C. Sullivan
(1989)
The Parks Canada Glass
Glossary for the description of containers, tableware,
flat glass and closures. Environment Canada, Canadian
Parks Service, Ottawa.
Kopp, K. & J. Kopp (1985) American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: folk
art underfoot. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.
Kuusisto, K. (1974) Nova Scotia Museums Collections Inventory:
Guide Number 1, Books, Ceramics, Documents, Paintings,
Prints. Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax.
Lucie-Smith, E. (1984) The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art
Terms. Thames & Hudson, New York.
Montgomery, F. (1983) Textiles in America 1650-1870.
Norton & Co., New York.
W. W.
Naeve, M. M. (1981) Identifying American Furniture: A
pictorial guide to styles and terms, colonial to
contemporary. Amer. Assoc. for State and Local Hist.
(AASLH), Nashville.
Orlofski, P. & M. Orlofski
Hill, New York.
(1974)
Quilts in America.
McGraw
Ormsbee, T. H. (1952a) Field Guide to American Victorian
Furniture. Crown Pub. Inc., New York.
--
(1952b) Field Guide to Early American Furniture.
Pub. Inc., New York.
Pain, H.
Pye, D.
Crown
(1978) The Heritage of Upper Canadian Furniture: A
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