About Categories
and
Sub-Categories
"What is Nomenclature, and why should history museums of all sizes
use it? Nomenclature is a structured and controlled list of terms
organized in a classification system to provide the basis for indexing and
cataloging collections. It addresses the problems that museums with varied
collections face in managing their collection data. And it allows holders
of collections to share meaningful data with one another."
The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging
Lynne F. Poirier
Vice-President for Collections, The Strong Museum
As this quote from the preface says, Categories and Sub-Categories are part
of a standardised naming system developed by Robert G. Chenhall of the
Strong Museum. It is a hierarchical indexing system that is based upon the
original intended use of the object. This is the most important point to
keep in mind, as some of the designations may seem fairly unusual to the
casual user.
With a figurine, for example, it could be confusing as to why it is
classified as a 'Communication Artifact', which contains 'Art', but if one
thinks about the original function of the object, as a work of art, the
artist is communicating an idea or emotion, which is more easily seen
with a painting, perhaps, but the concept is nonetheless there.
What is probably the most important concept with the nomenclature is that
it allows curators and others in the artifact field to have a consistent
naming convention across all other differences. This way, a curator in
Victoria, B.C. won't call a bucket a 'Bucket, coal', whereas a curator in
Billings, Montana might call it a 'Scuttle, coal'. This standardisation
makes it easier to talk about the same objects in diverse collections.
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