Hi Tim,
I have had many of the same thoughts as you regarding the necessity of
nomenclature.  However it has proven useful in capturing all artifacts in a
particular classification.  I am dealing with records that have been
created over a hundred year time frame and of variable quality.  Some
descriptions do not contain consistent terminology and would slip through a
search on just the description field.  As a first step in out data entry
process we assigned Chenhall's nomenclature to every catalog card.  Because
of that if I do a search for armament- firearm I can be certain that I will
capture all of the guns in our collection.
Sincerely,
David Ryan
Colorado Springs Museum
www.cspm.org

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).