CIDOC Guidelines for Museum Object Information: Object Association Information Group

This page is part of the International Guidelines for Museum Object Information: The CIDOC Information Categories: a description of the Information Categories that can be used when developing records about the objects in museum collections. For an outline of the Information Groups and Categories in the Guidelines, turn to the introductory list.

Object Association Information Group

Purpose:

Object association information supports Access and an Historic archive. It can be recorded for all types of collection disciplines.

Information categories:

Associated place
Associated date
Associated group/person name
Association type
Original function

Examples:

Associated place: Nebraska
Associated group/person name: Giles. JK
Association type: owner
Original function: carving tool

Associated place: South Africa
Associated date: c.1900
Associated group/person name: Zulu
Association type: user
Original function: ceremonial

Notes:

• This Information Group can be repeated to describe multiple events in the history of an object, including usage, historical ownership, etc.

Associated place

Definition:

The name of a place associated with the history of the object or specimen.

Examples:

Karystos/Evia/Greece/Europe
Spurn Point/North Humberside/England/Europe

Notes:

• To record information about specific places, separate each component of a place using the same character, such as a slash.
• It is recommended that controlled terms are used for this Information Category. Refer to the "Content and terminology control" section in the Introduction for further guidance on sources of controlled terminology.
• Use the Association type Information Category to specify the way in which the Associated place is linked to the object.

Move to beginning of Object association

Associated date

Definition:

The date or date range associated with the history of the object or specimen.

Examples:

c.1883
1956-01-21
1200-1400
600BC
10BCE

Notes:

• Always use the same format when recording dates.
• Always record all four digits for the year of a date, e.g., 1994, not '94.
• Be as precise as possible when recording dates. It may be necessary to record ranges of dates or to otherwise qualify the date recorded in some way. If so, always use the same method of indicating any qualification.
• Use the Association type Information Category to specify the way in which the Associated date is linked to the object.

Move to beginning of Object association

Associated group/person name

Alternate names:

People name
Folk name
Organization name
Nation name

Definition:

The person, group, or organization associated with the history of the object or specimen.

Examples:

Iroquois
Heals Ltd
Jones, I

Notes:

• It is recommended that a controlled list of authorized names is used for this Information Category. Refer to the "Content and terminology control" section in the Introduction for further guidance on sources of controlled terminology.
• Use the Association type Information Category to specify the way in which the Associated group/person name is linked to the object.

Move to beginning of Object association

Association type

Definition:

The way in which the person/group, date, or place is associated with the history of the object or specimen.

Examples:

excavation
collection
creation
use

Notes:

• It is recommended that controlled terms are used for this Information Category. Refer to the "Content and terminology control" section in the Introduction for further guidance on sources of controlled terminology.

Move to beginning of Object association

Original function

Alternate names:

Use

Definition:

The way in which the object was known to have been used.

Examples:

Ceremonial bowl, used during marriage celebrations.

Move to beginning of Object association

Move to outline of the Information Groups and Categories or the next section of the Guidelines, Object collection

file: guideass.htm; author: CIDOC; updated June 1995