A Library Primer (1899)/Chapter LV
Henry W. Kent, Slater museum, Norwich, Conn.
I. Accessioning
The accession book should be ruled in columns under the following headings:
A, Accession number; B, Author; C, Title; D, Gallery; E, Photographer and place of publication; F, Date of publication; G, Photographer's number; H, Process; I, Size of print; J, Size of mount; K, Cost; L, Cost of mounting; M, Remarks.
A Accession number. The consecutive Museum number to be either written or printed. This column should be used to give the date of accession.
B Author. For photographs of paintings give one important name.
For photographs of sculpture give sculptor's name, where known.
For photographs of architecture give name of city followed by country in parentheses. London (Eng.)
C Title. For photographs of painting and sculpture use short, catch title, bringing, where possible, the important name first.
For photographs of architecture, make first word a word descriptive of the kind of building: Temple of Mars; Cathedral of Notre Dame; Basilica of S. Paolo.
D Gallery. This column is used for sculpture and painting only. Enter official name of gallery under name of city, followed by country in parentheses, and separated by hyphen: London (Eng.)-National Gallery; Paris (France)-Louvre.
E Photographer and place of publication. Use the last name of publisher, followed by name of city abbreviated. Alinari, Fio.; Braun, Pa.; Hanfstaengl, Muen.
F Date. The high grade photographs have the date of their publication on the mount.
G Publisher's number. To be found on all prints.
H Process. State whether silver print, platinotype, carbon (give color b. for black, br. for brown, g. for gray), autotype, collotype, etc.
I Size of print. Give size in centimeters, giving width first.
J Size of mount. Use the following notation:
F for size measuring 22x28 inches, and upwards.
Q for size measuring 18x22 inches up to 22x28.
O for size measuring 14x18 inches up to 18x22.
D for all sizes under O.
K Cost. Give cost of imported prints in foreign money; give total of bill in American money.
L Cost of mounting.
M Remarks. This column will be found useful for date of remounting prints.
Enter all prints in the order of the publisher's bill.
Write the accession number on the back of mount (see under Labeling) and on author card.
II. Card cataloging
Photographs of paintings and sculpture should be entered under the following heads: A, Author, B, Title, C, Gallery, D, School of painter or sculptor.
Use Library Bureau card, no. 33r.
A Author card. This should show, a, author's name, dates of birth and death, and school; b, Title of work; c, Kind of work; d, Gallery; e, Imprint; f, Accession number; g, Classification or storage number.
Aa Enter author on first blue line between red lines, under his best known name, even if a nickname, giving full name with nicknames and their translations after it, in parentheses. Give dates of birth and death in parentheses, followed by name of the school to which the artist belonged. Make cross-references from all forms under which the author might be looked for.
1 Giorgione, II. (Giorgio Barbarelli) called. 1477-1511. Italian-Venetian A
Painting card; author, with full name to precede list of words.
(It will be found convenient to give all this data on one card, to precede the list of the artist's works, using on all following cards the first, or well-known name, only.)
2 Q Giorgione, II. G43h Holy Family. Easel-picture.
Venice (Italy)-Palazzo Giovanelli. Naya, Venice. 993. Silver, 27x35cm.
A
Painting card; author, showing title of work, kind of work, gallery, etc.
Ab Write the title on second blue line, at the right of red lines. Make it as brief as possible, using the important name in it, first. Christ, Baptism of; Christ, Betrayal of; Virgin Mary, Coronation of; St John, Birth of; St Peter, Martyrdom of.
Ac Indicate after the title whether it is an easel-picture, fresco, statue, relief, or a part of a larger work.
Ad Give on fourth blue line, at left of red lines, the official name of gallery, preceded by city, with country in parentheses. London (Eng.)-National Gallery.
Ae Give the imprint on fifth blue line, beginning at the right of red lines: name of photographer, place of publication, date, number of print, process, size of print in cm., bottom by height.
B Title card. This card should show, a, Title, b, Author.
Holy Family. See Buonarotti. Florence (It.)-Palazzo Uffizi. Q-G43h Giorgigne II. Venice (It.)-Palazzo Giovanelli. Ghirlandaio II. Florence (It.)-Palazzo Uffizi.
B
Painting card; title, with different authors and galleries.
Ba Give on first blue line, beginning at the left of red lines, a full title, but as in Ab make the important name or word the first word. Christ, Baptism of; Christ, Betrayal of; St John, Birth of; Portrait of Pope Julius.
Bb Give on second blue line, between red lines, the one well known or important author's name; the first one used in Aa.
The title card becomes in most cases a series card, since the title of an often-represented subject attracts to itself many names of artists. In such cases arrange the authors' names alphabetically, in columns, and against them write the names of the galleries where the works are to be found. Give class and author number in blue ink at the left.
C Gallery card. This card is a series card, and should show, a, name of gallery; b, names of the artists and their works in the gallery.
Ca Give official name of gallery preceded by the name of the city where it is located, with country in parentheses.
Cb Enter alphabetically, names of authors, with the title of their works, one author to a line. Give at the left, classification numbers in blue ink.
Venice (Italy) - Palazzo Giovanelli
Q-G43h Giargione II. Holy Family.
C
Painting card; gallery, with authors and titles of works.
D School card. This should show under the names American, English, French, German, Italian-Florentine, Italian-Venetian, Italian-Umbrian, Italian-Parmesan, Spanish, etc., all the artists of the school arranged alphabetically, with the number of their works written in, in pencil.
School. Italian-Venetian. Q-G43h Giorgione, il. Veronese
D
Painting card; school, all authors of school arranged alphabetically with number of works written in pencil.
Photographs of Architecture should be cataloged according to the foregoing rules, except in the following cases:
Author card. For author, give the name of the city where the building or detail is found, followed by the country in parentheses.
For title make the first word descriptive of the kind of building, and after the name of the building give the point from which the view was taken, affixed to the words interior or exterior: Temple of Zeus, Exterior from the east. Cathedral of Notre Dame, Interior of nave looking east.
Instead of gallery, give style of building, using words Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Modern, etc., followed by adjective indicating country.
Imprint the same.
Gallery card will not be needed.
Q Poitiers (France). P75 Cathedral. Interior of Nave, looking East.
Gothic French Robett, Paris 348 Silver, 28x33 cm.
A]
Architecture card; author, showing place, kind of building, and style.
For school card use S style card.
Style card. This should show all photographs arranged by cities, under styles, under general term Architecture.
Architecture, Gothic—Italian. Architecture, Gothic—Spanish. Architecture, Gothic—English, perpendicular. Architecture, Gothic—English, pointed.
Architecture - Gothic. French Abbeyville Ch. of S. Wulfrand Amiens Cathedral Auxerre
S
Architecture card; style, showing place, etc.
The cards for the three divisions, architecture, painting, and sculpture, should be kept in separate alphabets.
III. Classification
Arrange the photographs of sculpture and painting alphabetically by authors where known; where not known, by subjects under the various sizes.
Arrange the photographs of architecture alphabetically by cities, under the sizes.
Indicate the arrangement on cards by two numbers, in blue ink: the Classification number and the Author number.
Classification number. This is indicated by the letters F, Q, O, D.
Author number. Use the C: A. Cutter Letter alphabetic-order table for book authors, and add to the number so gained the first one or two letters (as the number of prints may require) of the title of the print; or the numerals 1, 2, and 3 may be used.
Write these two numbers in blue ink on the cards, as follows:
Author card. Class number on the first line of upper left-hand corner; author number below it.
On other cards. Write at the left of first red line the two numbers on one line separated by a hyphen.
IV. Labeling
Give author's name in full, with dates, in parentheses, and school, beginning directly under left-hand corner of print.
Give title, same as on title card, only reversing the form, beginning under the middle of print and running out to the right-hand corner.
Some collections have more or less descriptive matter on the mount, but this is to be discouraged.
Give the Gallery or Style at lower left-hand corner of mount 1 inch from either edge. Use waterproof or India ink in all cases.
Showing proper method of entering descriptive matter on mounted photographs.
Stamp name of collection with rubber stamp on back of mount in upper left-hand corner, 1-1/2 inches from upper and side edges.
The stamp should give full name and place of museum or library, leaving room above for class and author number, and below for accession number.
Class —— Author —— Slater Memorial Museum Norwich, Conn. No. ——]
V. Storage
Store sizes Q, O, and D, in drawers of a cabinet, which may be easily removed to table, or in pigeonholes; stand the mounts on long edges, with backs to the front, so that classification and author numbers may be easily seen in turning them over.
Store size F in drawers, but lying flat. These should be taken out of the drawer and laid on a table when being handled. The drawers for the smaller sizes should be box-shaped, with sides cut down somewhat to allow the prints to be easily turned. Those for the large size should have no front, but the case containing them should have doors.
Note.—Be very careful in handling photographs never to rub or pull one over another; always turn them from side to side, like the leaves of a book.