I agree with Fiona; you should record all information that will help you
get the most use out of your photographic resources.
In a previous job (I don't get to work with photos here--we've got an
archivist that does that), I would record ethnicity whenever it seemed
relevant to do so--for example, a 1960s group fishing retreat that had
an Ojibway guide. Guiding like that had been part of the local Ojibway
culture since tourists started coming to the area in the 1880s, and was
in part a continuation of their earlier cultural practices. Now, if the
group of fishermen had included an Asian man, I likely would not have
recorded that, as by the 1960s tourists were coming to the area from all
over the world, and the ethnicity of the tourists was of minimal
importance compared to being able to locate a photograph of an Ojibway
guide. On the other hand, Asian workers made extraordinary
contributions to building railroads in the area; if I had a photo of a
railway gang that included Asians, I certainly would have identified
them as such.
I don't know how your controlled vocabulary lists will affect your
ability to record ethnicity, but if that and gendre are important to the
interpretive themes of your material, by all means it should be
recorded.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
1302 Bomford Crescent S.W.
Medicine Hat, AB T1A 5E6
(403) 502-8587
>>> [log in to unmask] 06/18/02 12:21PM >>>
Hi Lynnea. Form my anthropological view, the politically correct term
is
"ethnicity" not race. We are the human race made up of ethnicities.
As far as categorizing the pictures, there is no harm in categorizing
by
ethnicity and by groups. I suggest doing what you think works best for
your
organization. Hope this helps.
Best,
Fiona Adams
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Lynnea Kleinschmidt
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 8:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: subject terms for race
I posted a question about cataloging on the listserv, and no one has
responded.
Here is the query again.
Do you usually identify the race of people in photographs when you
catalog
them? If so, do you identify the race of everyone in the photograph or
only
that of selected persons?
I am the coordinator for an IMLS museum-library collaboration grant.
We are
using three controlled vocabulary lists: AAT, TGM1, and LCSH for
providing
subject access. We are cataloging World War II shipyard materials, so
gender and race are important issues for the stories of the work force
and
for our community. The policy for applying race access has been
discussed.
Does anyone address this issue?
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