Cataloging Works
Historical Precision & Contemporary Terminology
The Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) was used to enter Materials, Techniques and Subject elements. When possible, data entered for each artwork was cited from conservation reports and scholarly research about the artists and their creative process. When exact language could not be found in the Getty AAT, or else, did not conform to Cataloging Cultural Object (CCO) rules, fields were edited to display historically correct terminology while linking to naming authoritaties and thesauri.* Authorities used for the "Subject" element include The Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) , The Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), and both Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) and Library of Congres Subject Headings (LCSH) to assign more precise values to surface historical names of people, movements, and corporate entities.
Hemispheric concepts of the Americas are employed by naming authorities and thesauri with terms such as "North America" and "The United States". After linking to the authorized term, "United States" for the "Cultural Context" element, I have entered "American" and "America" in free text displays to indicate self-identifying terms used by artists of the mid twentieth century, some of whom were actively engaged in defining a distinctly "American" art.