The words object and artifact are well defined in the literature. For
example, I provided a quick guide to the meanings of these words in
"Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies" in Table 2.2.
If you would like to look deeper into the definitions, you should begin
with the definitions provided in "Museum Wise: Workplace Words Defined"
(Cato, Golden, and McLaren, 2003).
The short answer is that an artifact refers to something made or
modified by human beings; object is something capable of being seen,
touched, or otherwise sensed, hence a material thing. All artifacts are
objects, not all objects are artifacts.
--John
John E. Simmons
Collections Manager, Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research
Center
and
Director, Museum Studies Program
University of Kansas
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7561
Telephone 785-864-4508
FAX 785-864-5335
[log in to unmask]
www.nhm.ku.edu/herpetology
www.ku.edu/~museumst
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Cascio, Chris
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 10:53 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Artifact or Object?
For the "why be clear when you can use jargon" department:
I quite often hear the terms "artifact" and "object" used
interchangeably. I always thought that they were used in different
contexts. My understanding is that the term "object" is used for
"whole" things (ex. a chair, a painting, a teapot) whereas "artifact" is
used for fragments of things--especially something archaeological (ex. a
ceramic shard).
Maybe I'm being a bit too particular, but what's the consensus?
Chris
Christopher M. Cascio
Assistant Site Administrator
Pottsgrove Manor historic site
100 West King Street
Pottstown, PA 19464-6318
(610) 326-4014
[log in to unmask]
www.historicsites.montcopa.org
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