DEFINITION
Documentation of the creation and subsequent modification(s) of a work’s description, including who made the description and when, along with any relevant notes.
SUBCATEGORIES
- 25.1. Cataloging Institution
- 25.2. Cataloger Name
- 25.3. Cataloger Action
- 25.4. Area of Record Affected
- 25.5. Cataloging Date
- 25.6. Remarks
- 25.7. Object/Work Record ID
- 25.8. Cataloging Language
- Examples
GENERAL DISCUSSION
This category is used to document the history of the description of a work of art or architecture. It is often called a revision history of the record.
More than one person may be involved in the creation or revision of a work’s description. Each individual, institution, and date should be cited in separate occurrences of this category.
This category is critical for the administrative oversight of the cataloging institution, because tracking the history of who cataloged the work, what each cataloger contributed to record, and on what date changes were made to the record, are critical in maintaining quality control and charting the progress of a cataloging project.
Some institutions may wish to make this information available to the researcher. Cataloging history is interesting to the researcher because it can be used to assess the accuracy and reliability of a description of a work of art or architecture. Descriptions that were written a long time ago may not reflect recent discoveries or trends in scholarship.
RELATED CATEGORIES and ACCESS
The sources of the information contained in the description of the work should be indicated in the and categories, as well as in the and subcategories for each of these categories.
25.1 Cataloging Institution
DEFINITION
The institution with which the individual who wrote or revised the description of a work is affiliated.
EXAMPLES
- National Gallery (London, England, UK)
- Library of Congress (Washington, DC, USA)
- Monastery of Santa Maria Novella (Florence, Italy)
- Utmali Museum (Umtali, Zimbabwe)
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, California, USA)
- Cartographic and Architectural Archives Division, National Archives of Canada (Ottawa, Canada)
- Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana, USA)
- independent scholar
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record the name and location of the institution that cataloged or described the work of art or architecture. For museum objects, this is typically the repository. Historical records of descriptions may be included.
Form and syntax
Follow rules for constructing names in the .
If the cataloger is not affiliated with an institution, use a value such as N/A or independent scholar.
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Authority: Control this subcategory with the .
25.2 Cataloger Name
DEFINITION
The name of the individual who wrote, recorded, or revised information about a work.
EXAMPLES
- Gatta, Joey
- Katterman, Louis
- Felino, Leonard A.
- Amurra, Juliet
- unknown
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record the name of the individual responsible for creating or altering the catalog record or description of the work of art or architecture. For museum objects, this is typically a person employed by the repository. Historical records of descriptions may be included.
Form and syntax
Follow rules for constructing names in the . Allow for the expression of uncertainty, such as unknown.
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Authority or Controlled List: Control this subcategory with the . Alternatively, maintain a controlled list of logins and passwords for those authorized to edit or create records.
25.3 Cataloger Action
DEFINITION
The action performed by the individual when creating or revising the record.
EXAMPLES
- created
- updated
- added
- deleted
- approved
- published
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record a term identifying the type of action done to the record by the individual(s) recorded in the subcategory. Use lower case.
Actions may include creating a new record; adding or changing information to a particular field in a record; or deleting information in a record. Ideally, these actions would be tracked automatically by the computer cataloging system. If not, they should be recorded in the subcategory.
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Controlled list: Control this subcategory with a controlled list, including the terms listed in the “Examples” section above, and other terms as necessary.
25.4 Area of Record Affected
DEFINITION
The area or fields of the record that were affected by the cataloger’s action(s).
EXAMPLES
- title
- creator
- condition history
- work type
- subject
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record a term identifying the type of action done to the record, as recorded in the subcategory. Use lower case.
Depending upon local requirements for keeping track of individual changes to the record, the choices may be limited to certain areas of the record (as in the “Examples” section above), or the full list of fields may be among the choices.
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Controlled list: Control this subcategory with a controlled list, including the terms in the “Examples” section above, and other terms as necessary
25.5 Cataloging Date
DEFINITION
The date(s) and time(s) when a cataloger’s action was undertaken.
EXAMPLES
- 2000-05-02 13:05:25
- July 11, 1994, 9:25AM
- 12 April 1984
- 1993
- September 1674
- before 1872
- ca. 1545
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record the date when the action, as recorded in the subcategory, took place.
Form and syntax
Depending upon local practice, a display date field may be used, or the action may simply be automatically time stamped by the computer system (e.g., in the first “Examples” above). The date may then be displayed in various formats, as needed.
If you are recording historical descriptions in this category, it is recommended to include a free-text display date field, so that nuance and expressions of uncertainty may be recorded as necessary. Follow the applicable rules for display dates in .
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Free-text: This is not a controlled field. Maintain consistent capitalization, punctuation, and syntax where possible. Index the dates in the controlled and subcategories.
25.5.1 Earliest Date
DEFINITION
The earliest date when the cataloger’s action, as recorded in the Cataloger Action(25.3) subcategory, was undertaken.
EXAMPLES
- 2000-05-02 13:05:25
- 1420
- -900
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record the earliest date indicated in the display subcategory. Always record years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
If cataloging activities are being automatically time stamped by the computer system, this date may be the date automatically generated by the system. Whereas all other and subcategories in CDWA require both Earliest and Latest Dates, it is acceptable to use a single automatically generated date and time for this subcategory in compliance with local practice.
Form and syntax
Follow the applicable rules for display dates in .
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Controlled format Date information must be formatted consistently to allow retrieval. Local rules should be in place. Suggested formats are available in the ISO Standard and W3 XML Schema Part 2.
-
ISO 8601:2004 Representation of dates and times. International Organization for Standardization. Data Elements and Interchange Formats. Information Interchange. Representation of Dates and Times. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization, 2004.
25.5.2 Latest Date
DEFINITION
The latest date when the cataloger’s action, as recorded in the Cataloger Action(25.3) subcategory, was undertaken.
EXAMPLES
- 2000-05-02 13:05:25
- 1521
- 9999
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record the latest date indicated in display subcategory. Always record years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
If cataloging activities are being automatically time stamped by the computer system, this date may be unnecessary, given that it would always be identical to the automatically generated by the system. Whereas all other and subcategories in CDWA require both Earliest and Latest Dates, it is acceptable to use a single automatically generated date and time for this subcategory in compliance with local practice.
Form and syntax
Follow the applicable rules for display dates in .
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Controlled format: Date information must be formatted consistently to allow retrieval. Local rules should be in place. Suggested formats are available in the ISO Standard and W3 XML Schema Part 2.
-
ISO 8601:2004 Representation of dates and times. International Organization for Standardization. Data Elements and Interchange Formats. Information Interchange. Representation of Dates and Times. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization, 2004.
25.6 Remarks
DEFINITION
Any notes or comments about the process of cataloging the work, or of creating or modifying the description of it.
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: Record any editor’s notes or other comments about the precise actions performed on a record by a particular cataloger.
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Free text: This subcategory is not controlled.
25.7 Object/Work Record ID
DEFINITION
A number used to uniquely identify the object/work record in the computer system. .
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: It is optional but highly recommended to use persistent unique numeric identifiers for the object/work record in the computer system. Typically, such numeric schemes are composed of a consistent, defined range of integers (e.g., 12 number sequences, such as 100000000123). Alternatively, numbers may be applied sequentially beginning with number one. Numbers used for this purpose should be tied to, but typically not the same as, the those recorded in the subcategory.
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Controlled format: This subcategory is automatically generated and controlled.
25.8 Cataloging Language
DEFINITION
The language in which the cataloging record is written.
DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES
Optional: It is optional but highly recommended to indicate the primary language of the cataloging record. While information recorded in various fields, such as in CDWA’s inscription subcategories, may appear in a variety of languages, the field tags and basic language of a given record may generally be identified. If two or more languages are equally represented in the record, list both or all languages here. In such cases, it is desirable to employ a system that allows the separation of each record according to language (for example, to allow a display in English or a display in French).
TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT
Controlled terminology: Control the terminology, using the AAT languages, or another source for language names.
Examples
For an object in a museum:
-
Cataloging Institution: Marshall Museum of Fine Arts (Macinaw, Connecticut, USA)
Cataloger Name: Katterman, Louis
Action: created
Area of Record Affected: record
Date: 1983-12-19 08:19:23
Earliest Date: 1983-12-19 08:19:23
Latest Date: 1983-12-19 08:19:23
Remarks: -
Cataloging Institution: Marshall Museum of Fine Arts (Macinaw, Connecticut, USA)
Cataloger Name: Gatta, Joey
Action: added
Area of Record Affected: title
Date: 1990-05-30 11:11:02
Earliest Date: 1990-05-30 11:11:02
Latest Date: 1990-05-30 11:11:02
Remarks: JG 1990-05: I added the exhibition title from “Greatest Hits of the Marshall” -
Cataloging Institution: Marshall Museum of Fine Arts (Macinaw, Connecticut, USA)
Cataloger Name: Gatta, Joey
Action: updated
Area of Record Affected: creator
Date: 1992-06-11 09:54:10
Earliest Date: 1992-06-11 09:54:10
Latest Date: 1992-06-11 09:54:10
Remarks: JG 1992-06: The attribution was changed, so we added a new creator.
A reference to a historical description of an object:
-
Cataloging Institution: Villa I Tatti,
Harvard University (Florence, Italy)
Cataloger Name: Berenson, Bernard
Action: created
Area of Record Affected: record
Date: 1943/1945
Earliest Date: 1943
Latest Date: 1945
Remarks: The work was originally cataloged by Berenson, based on his personal observation of the work, photographs, and documentation from the dealer
Revised 28 February 2024
by Emily Benoff