Introduction
Linked Art includes a simple model for describing archives and archival material. This model makes use of Sets as a way to group together objects (either physical or digital) into a hierarchy. The archival items themselves are typically HumanMadeObjects which can be described in detail, but often are only very briefly described, if at all in archival practice. The only new functionality added to support archival description is the link between a Set and the physical container in which the members of the conceptual set are held.
Archival Hierarchy
Archival tradition typically does not distinguish between the intellectual arrangement and the physical containment of an archive, however in Linked Art and CIDOC-CRM these are two very separate parts of the model. Linked Art treats the archival hierarchy as conceptual -- it is a product of the mind, not a feature of the physical world. This can be thought of in the following way: if one were to remove a letter from an archival folder, it is not removed from the "archive", it is removed from its current container. One might, temporarily, add it to another folder that happened to be part of a second archive ... perhaps to carry them to a reader together. This would, similarly, not add it to the second archive.
With this in mind, the archives can be described as a hierarchy of Set
s, where the Set that represents the sub-series is a member_of
the Set that represents the series, which is a member_of
the sub-fonds, and so on. There is no limit to the depth of the hierarchy, and given the graph-based nature of Linked Art, this makes it possible for the same object to be part of two archives at the same time.
The items, if described, are HumanMadeObject
s which are also member_of
the Set
s, and follow the regular physical object model.
Example:
A letter between Alfred Stieglitz and Bertha Obermeyer, dated 1920 is part of the "Stieglitz Family Letters" sub-series, which is part of "Series I: Alfred Stieglitz Correspondence" (which is part of the "Alfred Stieglitz / Georgia O'Keeffe Archive" at Yale University)
The letter ...
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/object/letter/1",
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Obermeyer 1920",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300026879",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Letter"
}
],
"identified_by": [
{
"type": "Name",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Primary Name"
}
],
"content": "Obermeyer, Bertha (1920)"
}
],
"member_of": [
{
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_sfl",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Stieglitz Family Letters"
}
]
}
is a member of the sub-series ...
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_sfl/1",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Stieglitz Family Letters",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404023",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Archival SubGrouping"
}
],
"identified_by": [
{
"type": "Name",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Primary Name"
}
],
"content": "Stieglitz Family Letters"
}
],
"member_of": [
{
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_asc",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Alfred Stiegliz Correspondence"
}
]
}
which is a member of the series ...
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_asc/1",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Alfred Stiegliz Correspondence",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404022",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Archival Grouping"
}
],
"identified_by": [
{
"type": "Name",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Primary Name"
}
],
"content": "Alfred Stiegliz Correspondence"
}
]
}
(and so on)
Order of Members
In order to ensure that the members are ordered correctly, a sort value can be added as an Identifier on the member. This value should sort correctly with respect to the other members of the set, with the alphanumerically lowest identifier value being presented first and then in ascending order from there. This identifier should have an AttributeAssignment associated with it that is motivated_by
the Set in which the sort value should be applied. This allows the same entity to be a member of multiple ordered sets at the same time.
Example:
The Obermeyer letter should sort as "000001" within the Stieglitz Family Letters set.
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/object/letter/2",
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Obermeyer 1920",
"identified_by": [
{
"type": "Name",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Primary Name"
}
],
"content": "Obermeyer, Bertha (1920)"
},
{
"type": "Identifier",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300456575",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Sort Value"
}
],
"content": "000001",
"assigned_by": [
{
"type": "AttributeAssignment",
"motivated_by": [
{
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_sfl",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Stieglitz Family Letters"
}
]
}
]
}
],
"member_of": [
{
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_sfl",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Stieglitz Family Letters"
}
]
}
Alignment between Conceptual and Physical Hierarchies
At one or more points in the archival hierarchy it is useful to align between the conceptual arrangement and the physical storage of the objects. This is done with the members_contained_by
property on the archival Set resource, referencing a HumanMadeObject
which physically contains or holds the objects, such as a box, folder or shelf. The physical objects, if described individually, can also be part of this physical hierarchy using the held_or_supported_by
property.
Example:
The Stieglitz Family Letters set has its members in Box 55.
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_sfl/2",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Stieglitz Family Letters",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404023",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Archival SubGrouping"
}
],
"identified_by": [
{
"type": "Name",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Primary Name"
}
],
"content": "Stieglitz Family Letters"
}
],
"members_contained_by": [
{
"id": "https://linked.art/example/object/box55",
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Archival Box 55"
}
]
}
And the letter is within the box.
{
"@context": "https://linked.art/ns/v1/linked-art.json",
"id": "https://linked.art/example/object/letter/3",
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Obermeyer 1920",
"identified_by": [
{
"type": "Name",
"classified_as": [
{
"id": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670",
"type": "Type",
"_label": "Primary Name"
}
],
"content": "Obermeyer, Bertha (1920)"
}
],
"member_of": [
{
"id": "https://linked.art/example/set/archive_sfl",
"type": "Set",
"_label": "Stieglitz Family Letters"
}
],
"held_or_supported_by": [
{
"id": "https://linked.art/example/object/box55",
"type": "HumanMadeObject",
"_label": "Archival Box 55"
}
]
}
Collective Description
It is possible to describe the shared features of members of Sets using the members_exemplified_by
property on Set instances. This is described in more detail in the collections page. This is especially useful for establishing the range of dates of creation of objects, the language of their contents, their types and so forth for the members of the archival collection.
Otherwise, much of the description of archives is done in plain text, which follows the statement pattern.