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Purpose
The Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names ® (TGN), the Art & Architecture Thesaurus ® (AAT), and the Cultural Objects Name Authority ® (CONA) (in development) are structured vocabularies that can be used to improve access to information about art, architecture, and material culture.
- Cataloging: They may be used as data value standards at the point of documentation or cataloging. In this context, they may be used as a controlled vocabulary or authority by the cataloger or indexer; they provide preferred names/terms and synonyms for people, places, and things. They also provide structure and classification schemes that can aid in documentation.
- Retrieval: They may be used as search assistants in database retrieval systems. They are knowledge bases that include semantic networks that show links and paths between artists; these relationships can make retrieval more successful.
- Research tools: They may be utilized as research tools, valuable because of the rich information and contextual knowledge that they contain.
Target audience: The four Getty vocabularies are intended
to provide terminology and other information about the objects,
artists, concepts, and places important to various disciplines that
specialize in art, architecture and material culture. The ULAN includes
proper names and associated information about artists. Artists
may be either individuals (persons) or groups of individuals working
together (corporate bodies). Artists in the ULAN generally represent
creators involved in the conception or production of visual arts
and architecture. Some performance artists are included (but typically
not actors, dancers, or other performing artists). Repositories
and some donors are included as well.
The primary users of the Getty vocabularies include museums, art libraries, archives, visual resource collection catalogers, bibliographic projects concerned with art, researchers in art and art history, and the information specialists who are dealing with the needs of these users. In addition, a significant number of users of the Getty vocabularies are students or members of the general public.
Accessing the vocabularies: Catalogers and indexers who use the vocabularies typically access them in two ways: By using them as implemented in a collection management system (either purchased off-the-shelf through a vendor or custom-built for their local requirements), or by using the online databases on the Getty Web site.
The databases made available on the Web site are intended to support limited research and cataloging efforts. Companies and institutions interested in regular or extensive use of the Getty vocabularies should explore licensing options by contacting the Getty Vocabulary Program at vocab@getty.edu. Implementers who wish to provide vocabularies to end-users or use them in search engines may license the vocabularies in XML or relational tables, which are released annually on July 1. The data is also available via Web services, where it is updated every two weeks. The licensed files include no user interface.
Releases of the vocabularies as Linked Open Data are expected in 2013/2014..
Comprehensiveness and updates: The ULAN is a compiled resource;
it is not comprehensive. A minimum record contains a numeric ID,
a name, a role, nationality, and life dates. The ULAN grows through
contributions. For news about recent updates, see Vocabulary Program news .
History of the ULAN
Work on the ULAN began in 1984, when the Getty decided to merge
and coordinate controlled vocabulary resources for use by the J.
Paul Getty Trust's many automated documentation projects. The AAT
was already being managed by the Getty at this time, and the Getty
attempted to respond to requests from Getty projects for additional
controlled vocabularies for artists' names (ULAN) and geographic
names (TGN). In 1987 the Getty created a department dedicated to
compiling and distributing terminology. The ULAN grows and changes
via contributions from the user community and editorial work of
the Getty Vocabulary Program.
Although originally intended only for use by Getty projects, the
broader art information community outside the Getty expressed a
need to use ULAN for cataloging and retrieval. The Getty thus distributed
ULAN for broader use according to the tenets previously established
for the construction and maintenance of the AAT: Its scope includes
names needed to catalog and retrieve information about the visual
arts and architecture; it is based on terminology that is current,
warranted for use by authoritative literary sources, and validated
by use in the scholarly art and architectural history community;
and it is compiled and edited in response to the needs of the user
community. Originally constructed as a simple alphabetized "union
list" of clustered artist names and biographies, in order to
make it consistent with the AAT and TGN, in the late 1990s ULAN
was brought into compliance with national and international standards
for thesaurus construction. Its scope was broadened to include corporate
bodies such as architectural firms and repositories of art, which
may have hierarchical levels.
The ULAN was founded under the management of Eleanor Fink (head
of what was then called the Vocabulary Coordination Group, and later
Director of the Art History Information Program, later called the
Getty Information Institute). The ULAN has been constructed over
the years by numerous members of the user community and an army
of dedicated editors, under the supervision of several managers.
The ULAN was published in 1994 in hardcopy (Union List of Artist
Names. Project manager, James M. Bower; senior editor, Murtha
Baca. New York: G.K. Hall, 1994) and machine-readable files. Given
the growing size and frequency of changes and additions to the ULAN,
by 1997 it had become evident that hard-copy publication was impractical.
It is now published in automated formats only, in both a searchable
online Web interface and in data files available for licensing.
The data for ULAN is compiled and edited in an editorial system
that was custom-built by Getty technical staff to meet the unique
requirements of compiling data from many contributors, merging,
moving, and publishing in various formats. Final editorial control
of the ULAN is maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program, using
well-established editorial rules.
The current manager
of the Getty vocabularies is Patricia Harpring, Managing Editor. Administratively, the Vocabulary Program resides under the GRI Collection Management and Description Division (David
Farneth, Head). Other GRI departments in this division are General Collection Cataloging,
Special Collections Cataloging, Digital Services, the Registrar’s Office, Institutional
Records and Archives, and Conservation and Preservation. The Vocabulary Program works with Art History Documentation (Murtha Baca, Head) to foster foreign language
translations of the vocabularies, maintain national and international
partnerships, and oversee licensing and marketing.
Scope and Structure
The ULAN is a structured vocabulary currently containing around
638,818 names and other information about artists. Names in ULAN
may include given names, pseudonyms, variant spellings, names in
multiple languages, and names that have changed over time (e.g.,
married names). Among these names, one is flagged as the preferred
name.
Although it is displayed as a list, ULAN is structured as a thesaurus,
compliant with ISO and NISO standards for thesaurus construction;
it contains hierarchical, equivalence, and associative relationships.
The focus of each ULAN record is an artist. Currently there are
around 248,820 people and corporate body records in the ULAN. In the database, each
record for a person or corporate body (also called a subject in this manual) is identified
by a unique numeric ID. Linked to each artist record are names,
related artists, sources for the data, and notes. The temporal coverage
of the ULAN ranges from Antiquity to the present and the scope is
global.
More about scope and structure: Even though the structure
is relatively flat, the ULAN is constructed as a hierarchical database;
its trees branch from a root called Top of the ULAN hierarchies
(Subject_ID: 500000001); it currently has five published facets:
Persons, Artists;
Corporate Bodies;
Non-Artists;
Unidentified Named People; and Unknown People by Culture.
Entities in the facets other than Corporate Bodies facet typically have no
children. Entities in the Corporate Bodies facet may branch into trees.
There may be multiple broader contexts, making the ULAN structure
polyhierarchical. In addition to the hierarchical relationships,
the ULAN also has equivalent and associative relationships.
FACETS OF ULAN
PERSONS, ARTISTS
Records under this level represent individuals involved in the creation or production of works of art or architecture. Included are individuals whose biographies are well known (e.g., Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch painter and printmaker, 1606-1669)) as well as anonymous creators with identified oeuvres but whose names are unknown and whose biography is surmised (e.g., Master of Alkmaar (North Netherlandish painter, active ca. 1490-ca. 1510)). Important patrons, rulers, sitters, and other people whose names are required to catalog art are located in the Non-Artists facet. People whose primary life roles were other than "artist" or "architect," but who created or designed art or architecture in an amateur capacity, are included under "Persons, Artists."
CORPORATE BODIES:
Records under this level represent corporate bodies, defined as two or more people working together to create or produce art or architecture. Corporate bodies must be organized, identifiable groups of individuals working together in a particular place and within a defined period of time, including legally incorporated entities, such as a modern architectural firm (e.g., Adler and Sullivan) as well as entities that are not incorporated, such as a 16th-century sculptors' studio or family of artists may be recorded as a corporate body (e.g., della Robbia family). A workshop may be included if the workshop itself is a distinct personality collectively responsible for the creation of art (for example, the 13th-century group of French illuminators, Soissons Atelier). Museums and most other repositories are also considered corporate bodies within the scope of ULAN. Built works are not included, even if they have the same name as the corporate body housed within them (e.g., National Gallery of Art). The built work named "National Gallery of Art" should be recorded in CONA, not ULAN.
NON-ARTISTS
Records under "Non-Artists" comprise personal names and biographies required for cataloging art and architecture, but where the people are not artists. Included in this facet are important donors, patrons, rulers, sitters, art historians, and others whose names are required for indexing art works but who are themselves not artists. Although the occasional non-artist patron had always been included in ULAN, separating these records into a separate facet became necessary when ULAN was used to control values in CONA, including not just artists but also sitters and patrons.
UNKNOWN PEOPLE BY CULTURE
Unknown people people by culture" comprise appellations referring to generic culture or nationality designations that are typically used in cataloging to record unidentified creators with unestablished oeuvres, such as unknown Mayan or simply Mayan. (The terms in this facet may also be used for anonymous people other than artists.) The appellation for creation in this context refers to the culture in which the work was created, not necessarily to the nationality or culture of the individual artist (who is by definition unknown). The generic "unknown" designation does not refer to one identified, if anonymous, individual; but instead the same heading refers to any of hundreds of anonymous, unidentified artistic personalities. Although ULAN includes designations for these unknown artists, in this case each ULAN record does not represent a single individual. "Anonymous" creators, who according to CCO and CDWA represent one person and have established oeuvres and estimated life dates, are recorded with pseudonyms or other appellations (e.g., Boucicaut Master) in the ULAN Persons, Artists facet. Note that some repositories call "unknown" artists "anonymous"; thus a variant name for unknown artists in ULAN include the word "anonymous," even though "anonymous" is defined differently in ULAN and related standards (CCO, CDWA).
UNIDENTIFIED NAMED PEOPLE
Records in this facet represent people named in original documents, but where the reference is ambiguous and thus no biography or firm identification of the person may be made. The name has usually been found in archival documents. Often the document may mention only a first or last name, thus hampering or prohibiting identification. For the people in this facet, no scholarly appellation has been attributed and no assessment of their oeuvre has been made (if either of these criteria is met, the record would be for an anonymous master who should be included in ULAN “Persons, Artists” facet). The names in the “Unidentified Named People” facet are often flagged as for "local use": due to the ambiguous nature of their identity, they should be omitted when ULAN is used for indexing or incorporated in a broad retrieval application.
Information in the Record (Fields)
- Language: Most fields in ULAN records are written in
English. However, the structure of the ULAN supports multilinguality
insofar as names and scope notes may be written and flagged in
multiple languages. All names are written in the Roman alphabet
(pending our conversion to Unicode); where names have
been transliterated from other alphabets, the transliteration
using the appropriate ISO standard for that language will be flagged
as the preferred name for that language whenever possible.
- Diacritics: The ULAN names and other fields contain dozens
of different diacritics, expressed as codes (e.g., $00) in the
data files. The ULAN diacritical codes are mapped to Unicode. The mapping is
distributed with the licensed data files. These codes should be
translated into the proper diacritical mark for end-users. A Unicode version of the data is now also available. In
Web displays, it may be impossible to display all diacritics.
If a box or illegible sign displays instead of a character in a name or term, this
means that your system cannot display the Unicode character represented.
You may view the full name or term with correct diacritics by
using Vista, Mac OS 10.5, or often by pasting the word into an
MS Word document.
- Fields: The ULAN fields (i.e., discrete pieces of data)
are described below. Data dictionaries for the licensed files
are available at http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/obtain/download.html.
- Subject ID
Unique numeric identification for the ULAN record. Each artist
in the ULAN database is uniquely identified by a numeric ID that
serves to link the names and all other pertinent information to
the artist record. The ID is generally permanent. Occasionally
an ID may change due to the record being merged with another record;
in such cases, the new IDs are included in the licensed files,
and a mapping between defunct and new IDs is provided to licensees.
- Record Type
Type designation that characterizes the ULAN record (artist,
corporate body, etc.). Record types include the following:
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Person: Refers to records in the ULAN that represent
a single individual, usually someone who was engaged in
the design or creation of art or architecture.
Corporate Body: Refers to records in the ULAN that
represent two or more people, not necessarily legally incorporated.
They are generally people who worked together to collectively
create art, such as an architectural firm, porcelain manufactory,
or painters' workshop. A family of artists may also be a
"corporate body."
Guide Term, Hierarchy Name, and Facet: Currently
these record types are hidden from end-users.
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- Label
Brief text identification of the artist, concatenated from the
preferred Name and preferred Display Biography. Whereas the Subject
ID identifies the artist in the database, the Label serves as
an easily legible heading to identify the artist for end-users.
In the ULAN Online displays (an entry in a results list display
is illustrated below), the Label is displayed with the hierarchy
icon (to the left of the Label) in order to permit the end-user
to go to the hierarchy/list to browse for artists.
- Note
Often called the Descriptive Note, a note that describes
the career of the artist, his relationship to other artists, or
the usage of his names. Some, but not all, ULAN records include
a note. The example below is the Note for Bartolommeo Bulgarini.
- Names
Proper names and appellations referring to the artist, including
a preferred name and variant names. All names in a record (i.e.,
all names linked by a single Subject ID) are considered equivalents
(i.e., synonyms). A ULAN record may contain synonyms in
inverted order for sorting or indexing (e.g., Wren, Christopher),
the natural order name for wall labels and other displays (e.g.,
Christopher Wren), the married name for women, variant spellings,
variations in different languages, nicknames, pseudonyms, and
other appellations. One name is flagged as the preferred name,
which is the indexing form of the name most often found in scholarly
or authoritative publications. In the example below, all names
refer to the same artist, who was born in Dalmatia, but active
in Italy (and who is, therefore, known by his Italian name).
- Term ID: Numeric ID that identifies the name in the database
(e.g., in the example above, Schiavone, Andrea has the
following Term_ID: 1500001503). Term IDs are unique; homographs
have different IDs. The Term_ID may be hidden from end-users.
- Display order of the names
Names are arranged in a particular order by the editors. The preferred
name is positioned first in a list of names for the artist, with
the more commonly-used names at the top of the list.
Implementers should sort the names by the Display_order
number, which is included in the data files, but typically hidden
from end-users.
- Flags for the Names
In the ULAN data, there are various flags associated with each
name. In displays for the end-user, some of the flags are currently
suppressed. The Vernacular flag is displayed as a capital letter
"V" in parentheses following the name above. The capital letter
in the above display is linked to an explanation of what the flag
means.
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Preferred Name
The flag preferred following a name indicates that
the name is the so-called preferred name for the
record. (The flag non-preferred is hidden in the
display.)
Each record has one and only one default preferred name,
flagged in order to provide a default name for the hierarchical
and other displays (see also Language of the Names below).
The preferred name is the inverted form of the name most
commonly used in American English publications (as in
the example below). If there is no inverted form of the
name or the inverted name is not the form most often used,
the natural order form of the name is the preferred name
(as in the example below).
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Example
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Display Name
There may be a name flagged Display, meaning that
this name could be used in wall labels and other displays.
It is generally the natural-order form of the preferred
name. If the name is flagged Index, this is the
name that should be used in alphabetical lists. The Preferred
Name is the default Index Name.
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Y = Yes (i.e., this is the Display Name)
I = Index
N = No
NA = Not Applicable
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Other Flags
Indicates various characteristics of the Name.
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O = Official name
NA = Not Applicable
P = Pseudonym
BN = Birth Name
Example
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LC Flag
Indicates that this is the name form preferred in the
Library of Congress Name Authority. The ULAN preferred name is usually, but not always, the same as the LC authoritative name.
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LC = Yes (meaning this is the Library of Congress
authoritative name form)
NA = Not Applicable
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Name Type flag
This flag is always set to N/A in the current ULAN data.
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U = Undetermined
NA = Not Applicable |
Historical flag
Indicates if the name is current or historical. Most names
in the ULAN are currently flagged NA.
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C = Current
H = Historical
B = Both current and historical
U = Unknown
NA = Not Applicable
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Vernacular flag
Indicates if the name is in the vernacular (local) language,
or some other language. There may be multiple vernacular
names. See also Language of the Names below.
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V = Vernacular
O = Other
U = Undetermined
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Part of Speech
The Part of Speech flag is currently set to NA in ULAN.
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- Dates for the Names
Dates comprise a Display Date, which is a note referring
to a date or other information about the name, and Start Date
and End Date, which are years that delimit the span of
time referred to in the Display Date. Start and End Dates index
the Display Date for retrieval, but are hidden from end-users.
Note that the dates refer to usage of the name, not to the life
dates of the artist.
Start and End Dates are years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar,
which is the calendar produced by extending the Gregorian calendar
to dates preceding its official introduction. Dates BCE are expressed
as negative numbers. If the name is currently used in literature
to refer to the artist, the End Date for names is 9999.
- Language of the Names
Some ULAN records currently include names with language designations.
A single name may have multiple language designations because
it may have the same spelling in multiple languages.
Languages are derived from a controlled list, which includes the
name of the language and a numeric code (e.g., English / 70051).
The code is hidden from end-users.
- Preferred flag for a given language
A "P" following the language in the examples indicates
that this is the preferred name in that language. In the ULAN, where language is an issue,
the preferred name (descriptor) is by default the preferred
American English name (e.g., the preferred name would be Master of the Bambino Vispo, with Maestro del Bambino Vispo as a variant name, which could in turn be flagged as preferred for Italian). For a given language, there is only one preferred name,
although there may be multiple non-preferred names in that language.
- Language status
Flag indicating loan words. Values are Undetermined, NA, Loan Term. In common practice, personal names are rarely translated, although corporate body names may be translated. Given that most names in ULAN are currently not translated into other langauges, this flag is generally set to Undetermined in ULAN.
- Qualifier
Currently, qualifiers are rarely used in the ULAN. A qualifier
is a word or phrase used to distinguish between homographs or
other confusing names; qualifiers may be used in the ULAN in the
future. In the ULAN data files, the Qualifier is stored in a separate
field, not in the Name field, but repeating along with the language for the name.
- Birth Date
Date when the artist was born or the corporate body was founded.
The birth date is used for retrieval but not displayed to the
end-user. Dates must be years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
For the end-user, the birth date is referred to in the Display
Biography (see below). Indications of uncertainty (e.g., ca.)
are expressed in the Display Biography. Uncertain life dates are
estimated in Birth Date and Death Date to give each artist a 100-year
lifespan or greater.
- Death Date
Date when the artist died or the corporate body disbanded. The
death date is used for retrieval but not displayed to the end-user.
Dates must be years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
For the end-user, the death date is referred to in the Display
Biography (see below). Indications of uncertainty (e.g., ca.)
are expressed in the Display Biography. Uncertain life dates are
estimated in Birth Date and Death Date to give each artist a 100-year
lifespan or greater. For living artists, the Death Date is recorded
as 2090.
- Nationality
A reference to the nationality, culture, or ethnic group associated
with the person or corporate body. There may be multiple nationalities.
Nationality does not necessarily indicate citizenship of a particular
nation, empire, or city state. It refers to a prolonged association
of an artist with a given place. Nationality may refer to historical
nations (e.g., Flemish). It may also refer to culture (e.g.,
Frankish) or ethnic groups (e.g., Native American).
Artists may have multiple nationalities, particularly when they
lived for prolonged periods in more than one nation, or when one
so-called nationality is more general than another that also applies
to the artist (e.g., for an ancient vase-painter, Greek
is a broader, general designation, while Attic is more
specific).
- Preferred flag for Nationality
One nationality is flagged preferred for each artist, to
provide a default when creating displays. Preferred following
a nationality in the examples indicates that this is the nationality
most commonly associated with the artist.
- Roles
Words or phrases describing one or more roles or characteristics
of the artist. Roles are the major professional roles or activities
performed by the artist throughout his or her lifetime (e.g.,
artist, architect, sculptor). For a corporate body, roles
include the major activities or purpose of the firm, institution,
or other corporate body (e.g., studio, manufactory, workshop).
- Preferred flag for Roles
One role is flagged preferred for each artist, to provide
a default when creating displays. Preferred following a
role in the examples indicates that this is the role most commonly
associated with the artist. It is often the general role, artist,
rather than a specific role (e.g., painter).
- Display order for Roles
Roles are arranged in a particular order by the editors. Implementers
should sort the names by the Display_order number, which
is included in the data files, but typically hidden from end-users.
- Dates for Roles
Dates comprise a Display Date, which is a note referring
to a date or other information about the artist relative to the
role (e.g., for the role lithographer for Hendrik Voogd
below), and Start Date and End Date, which are years
that delimit the span of time referred to in the Display Date.
Start and End Dates index the Display Date for retrieval, but
are hidden from end-users.
Start and End Dates are years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
The latest possible End Date for an artist's role would be his
date of death. (In the example above, the artist was a lithographer
only during part of his career, thus the end date is not date
of death.)
- Gender
The sex of the artist, male, female, or known. For
corporate bodies, the gender is not applicable.
- Birth Place and Death Place
Locations where the artist was born or died, or where the corporate
body was established. The example below illustrates the Birth
and Death Places for Vincent van Gogh.
Place names are taken from a controlled list comprising the place
name and its parent string combined with a numeric code (e.g.,
Zundert (North Brabant, Netherlands) / 4390750024). The
place list in ULAN is based on records in the Getty Thesaurus
of Geographic Names. The codes are used only for ULAN; they are
not the Subject_IDs from TGN. When there is an English name for
the place, it is used rather than the vernacular (local) name.
- Event
Terminology that refers to pertinent events in the artist's life
or the corporate body's history. An event must always be accompanied
by a place and/or a date. For a person, events may include the
event active, particularly when the locus of activity differs
from the nationality (as in the example for the German artist
Hans Holbein the Younger below), when an artist was active
only late in life (e.g., for Grandma Moses), or his or
her birth date is unknown. Examples of other events included:
documented, burial, relocation, winner of contest/prize.
Terminology for the Event is drawn from a controlled list comprising
a numeric code and a word or phrase (e.g., active / 12002).
- Display order for Events
Events are arranged in a particular order by the editors. Implementers
should sort the events by the Display_order number, which
is included in the data files, but typically hidden from end-users.
- Place for the Event
Location where the event occurred. Place names are taken from
a controlled list comprising the place name and its parent string
combined with a numeric code (e.g., from the example above, England
(United Kingdom) / 4601120000).
- Dates for the Event
Dates comprise a Display Date, which is a note referring
to a date or other information referring to a date or other information
about the artist relative to the event (e.g., for the Polish painter,
Olga Boznanska, below, Winner of the Legion d'honneur in 1910),
and Start Date and End Date, which are years that
delimit the span of time referred to in the Display Date. Start
and End Dates index the Display Date for retrieval, but are hidden
from end-users.
Start and End Dates are years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
In the example above, the event took place in a single year, so
Start and End Dates are the same year.
- Related People or Corporate Bodies
Associative relationships (i.e., non-hierarchical references)
to other persons or corporate bodies in the ULAN, particularly
professional relationships. Familial relationships are included
for families of artists. There may be relationships between and
among people and corporate bodies in the ULAN. For example, an
artist may have a student/teacher relationship with his or her
master. Family relationships are typically noted only if the family
member was an artist (as in the example for Lucas van Leyden
below) or other important historical figure.
Each reference comprises a relationship type plus a link to the
related entity. For end-user displays, the related entity should
be represented by the preferred name, role, parent string, and
subject ID for the related artist.
- Relationship Type
A term or phrase characterizing the relationship between the artist
at hand and the linked artist. In the example above, the Relationship
Type in the record for Lucas van Leyden indicates that
he was a student of Cornelius Engebrechtsz. Relationship
Types are reciprocal (that is, linked to both records), drawn
from a controlled list that comprises the controlled phrase and
a numeric code, as illustrated below. The codes are hidden from
end-users.
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Code
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Focus Entity
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Related Code
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1302
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associate of
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1302
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1311
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partner of
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1311
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1512
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parent of
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1511
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1511
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child of
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1512
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2828
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teacher was
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2829
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2829
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student was
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2828
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- Historical flag for the Related Person or Corporate Body
Indicates if the link between the related concepts is current
or historical. Currently in the ULAN, in most cases the Historical
Flag for relationships is set to Not Applicable.
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C = Current
H = Historical
B = Both current and historical
U = Undetermined
NA = Not Applicable |
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- Dates for the Related Person or Corporate Body
Dates comprise a Display Date, which is a note referring
to a date or other information about the relationship between
the two artists, and Start Date and End Date, which
are years that delimit the span of time referred to in the Display
Date. Start and End Dates index the Display Date for retrieval,
but are hidden from end-users. The example below illustrates a
related person in the record for the British architect, Herbert
Baker.
Start and End Dates are years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
- Hierarchical Positions / Parent ID
As is true of the AAT and TGN, the ULAN is constructed as a hierarchy,
even though the ULAN hierarchy does not have the same amount of
depth as AAT and TGN. The hierarchy of ULAN should be displayed
to end-users as an alphabetical listing that will explode to show
children where necessary. Hierarchies are built by using the Parent_ID,
which is linked to each Subject_ID; the Parent_ID is hidden from
end-users. For individual artists in the Person facet, the broader
context is usually simply Person. In the Corporate Body
facet, there may be some hierarchical depth, for example between
institutions and their divisions or departments.
- Multiple parents
The structure of the ULAN is polyhierarchical. Each Subject_ID
may be linked to multiple Parent_IDs. If there are multiple parents,
one is marked as preferred. In displays, the preferred
parent is listed first or otherwise designated. The example below
illustrates the display of parents in a Full Record Display for
the Foundation for Documents of Architecture.
In the full hierarchical view, it is recommended that implementers
indicate relationships to non-preferred parents with an "[N]",
as illustrated below.
- Sort order in the hierarchy
Siblings in the hierarchies are usually arranged alphabetically.
However, it is possible that they could be arranged by another
logical order by the editors.
For siblings at any level, implementers should build displays
using the Sort_order, followed by an alphabetical sort. (In an
alphabetical display all Sort_order designations are "1," and
will therefore be sorted alphabetically in the second sort.) The
Sort_order number is hidden from end-users.
- Historical flag for the Parent
Indicates if the link between the child and its parent is current
or historical. Most relationships in the ULAN are flagged Current;
if the flag is Current, it is generally not displayed to
end-users. If the flag is Historical, it is displayed (e.g., "H"
in the example above). Other flags could be used in future versions
of the ULAN.
- Dates for the parent
Dates comprise a Display Date, which is a note referring
to a date or other information about the link between a child
and its parent, and Start Date and End Date, which
are years that delimit the span of time referred to in the Display
Date. Start and End Dates index the Display Date for retrieval,
but are hidden from end-users. The example above illustrates a
historical relationship between the Foundation for Documents
of Architecture and the National Gallery of Art.
Start and End Dates are years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar,
which is the calendar produced by extending the Gregorian calendar
to dates preceding its official introduction. Dates BCE are expressed
as negative numbers. If the date extends to the current time,
the End Date is 9999.
- Hierarchy Relationship Type
Indicates the type of relationship between a hierarchical child and its parent, expressed in the jargon of controlled vocabulary standards. An example of a whole/part relationship is Tuscany is a part of Italy (TGN). An example of genus/species relationship is calcite is a type of mineral (AAT). An example of the instance relationship is Rembrandt van Rijn is an example of a Person (ULAN) (i.e., Rembrandt van Rijn is the immediate hierarchical child of the facet named Person). There may be Whole/Part relationships between corporate bodies in ULAN.
- Display Biography
Display biographies are notes, linked to the contributors
that submitted them. One biography is marked preferred
for the record, to serve as a default for displays, for example,
to create the Label.
The Display Biography typically contains the following information
for a given artist: nationality, major roles, birth and death
dates. Note that biographical information for the same artist
is often expressed differently by the various contributing institutions.
If there is uncertainty regarding the artist's life dates, roles
or nationality, it is expressed in the Display Biography (and—for
longer discussions—in the Descriptive Note). Information
in the Display Biography is indexed by the following controlled
fields: Birth Date, Death Date, Nationality, and Role.
- Contributors
The institutions or projects that contributed information to the
ULAN record. In order to give due credit to the contributing institution,
it is required that implementers display a reference to the contributor
to end-users.
References to contributors are drawn from a controlled list comprising
a numeric ID, a brief name, and a full name. The end-user must
have access to the brief name and the full name. The Brief Name
is the initials, abbreviations, or acronyms for the contributing
projects or institutions (in square brackets in the display below).
Contributors may be linked to the record in three ways: with the
names, with the record as a whole (subject), and with the
note (scope note). In the example below, end-users may
click on the initials of the contributor in the Full Record Display,
which produces a fuller description of the contributor name.
- Sources
The ULAN record generally includes the bibliographic sources for
the names. Most names were found in authoritative publications
on the given topic or in standard general reference works, including
dictionaries and encyclopedias. In order to give due credit to
published sources, it is required that implementers display a
reference to the published source to end-users.
References to sources are drawn from a controlled list comprising
a numeric ID, a brief citation, and a full citation. The end-user
must have access to the brief citation and the full citation.
Sources may be linked to the record in three ways: with the names,
with the record as a whole (subject), and with the note
(scope note). In the example below, end-users may click
on the brief citation in the Full Record Display, which displays
a full citation for that source.
- Page Number
A reference to a volume, page, date of accessing a Web site, or
heading reference in a source (as seen following the brief citation
(in black following the blue citations in the above example).
- Revision History
The editorial history of each ULAN record is captured in the Revision
History, which identifies when records and names have been added,
edited, merged, etc. The Revision History is included with the
licensed files, but hidden from end-users. This information allows
implementers to update the ULAN in their system with each new
release.
Sample Record
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