In her interesting contribution to the contemporary collecting debate,
Pat Reynolds writes:
>I've been looking at the collections according to their SHIC
>classifications.
and
>SHIC is just a framework through which to view the collections.  It
>highlights areas, in all periods, for which we don't have objects.

It occurs to me that many curators outside the UK may not be familiar
with the SHIC system, as it was developed by a group of British curators
and is probably not very well known worldwide. SHIC (an acronym for
Social History and Industrial Classification) is a hierarchical
classification system which groups material (objects, images,
information, etc.) according to context rather than typology. Hence
brickmaking brings together end-products, manufacturing machinery,
advertising material, furniture from a brickworks office, etc.

If anyone wants to know more, my website is host to the official web
pages of the SHIC Working Party which created and maintains the
classification. The URL:
        http://www.holm.demon.co.uk/shic
should get you straight there (bypassing my home page).

I had not announced this previously as the sample classification
extracts are incomplete, but I think there is enough there to illustrate
how it works.

A number of other curators have found that SHIC offers a useful subject
checklist to guide proactive contemporary collecting but Pat's account
of how it has helped her museum was particularly encouraging.

I was interested in her comment that:
>SHIC also needs to be used with caution, as it isn't a list of the
>'things one should have in the museum' - otherwise we'd be trying to
>fill the deficit in Deep Sea Fishing equipment (but strangely, ocean-
>going shipbuilding does have a history in Bucks - also, although we have
>no deep-shaft mining, pit-prop technology was developed here - but that
>doesn't mean we should collect shipbuilding or pit-prop design in
>preference to structural concrete or home yoghurt-making technology).

One or two curators with County-wide pastoral care responsibilities have
developed cut down versions of SHIC for use by small volunteer run
museums in their area.  These omit irrelevant subjects but as Pat points
out, one must be careful about just what is left out.

Stuart
--
Stuart Holm, Heritage Documentation Projects     Tel: 01603 870772
2 New Road, Reepham, Norwich NR10 4LP         E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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