Cataloging Process
In collecting items for my site, I drew content from multiple sources including the Cooper Hewitt, MoMA, AIGA Design Archives, and the Seymour Chwast Archive. In several cases, information in different fields for the same object was pulled from different sources; for example, the description for a work found on the Seymour Chwast Archive could be pulled from the AIGA Design Archive. In each case, I would attribute the source at the end of the relevant information in a field.
For my metadata fields, I relied primarily on elements from VRA, supplemented with 6 elements from Dublin Core – Identifier, Title, Contributor, Type, Subject, and Rights.
Metadata Fields (required fields in bold):
Identifier: For my site, I chose to create my own unique identifiers for the sake of personal organization. All of the works on my site are actual existing objects in archives and museum collections, and some have local accession numbers published while others do not. Using my own file naming convention gave me a more standardized vocabulary to work with.
Title: Each title is pulled from the objects’ host institution’s website.
Creator: For objects like the Push Pin Graphic, I needed fields that could express that the publication was a joint effort put together by Push Pin Studios, but with many contributing illustrators and changing art directors. The Creator field is where I recorded the organization-as-creator instead of the individual.
Controlled Vocabularies: I assigned both ULAN and LCNAF as controlled vocabularies so that I could cover a wider range of options; I found that Push Pin Studios wasn’t an entity in ULAN but it was in LCNAF, which helped inform this decision.
Contributor: This is where I recorded who made the specific page that I was including in my collection. Controlled Vocabularies: ULAN, LCNAF.
Type: This is where I recorded whether an object was a periodical, a poster, a book cover, or otherwise.
Controlled Vocabularies: Getty AAT, LC Genre Form Terms
Material: This is meant to cover both materials and techniques. Many of the objects are “offset lithographs,” and this field is where I could record that information.
Controlled Vocabulary: Getty AAT
Date Created: The year a work was completed.
Designed For: Several works in my collection are commissioned works, whether by businesses, schools or organizations. This field allows me to record any possible clients an object may have been designed for.
Part Of: Again with Push Pin Graphics in mind, I needed a field where I could express that the specific page you were seeing in my collection was part of a larger publication; this field allowed me to do so.
Height: In inches and centimeters.
Width: In inches and centimeters.
Description: Descriptions were pulled from various archives and museums, then put in quotes and credited with its respective organization.
Subject: Because the work created by Push Pin was often either about something or for something, I would often choose several subject headings to help capture this aspect. At the same time, because of the eclectic historical styles they were pulling from, identifiers like “woodcut” or “art deco” are also helpful terms to assign to a work.
Controlled Vocabularies: LCSH, LCNAF
Place of Repository: Because I treated the items in my collection as objects instead of images, each of them physically exists in a museum or archive somewhere. This is where I was able to express that information, using controlled vocabularies to standardize the organizations I was pulling from.
Controlled Vocabularies: LCNAF, LC Cultural Heritage Organizations
Rights: Populated with a Rights Statement. Many of these designs, especially the posters, are still in print and sold by the Push Pin website, the Cooper Hewitt, Poster House, and more. The work is still In Copyright, with non-commercial use permitted.