21st century provenance: lessons learned building art tracks

Standardizing Museum Provenance for theTwenty-First Century

Lessons Learned Building Art Tracks

David NewburyYale Center for British ArtFebruary 27th, 2017

Standardizing Museum Provenance — David Newbury (@workergnome) 1

Thank you all forinviting me here to talk.

Art Tracks, Phase IFunded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

ca. 2013-2015

Originally, Art Tracks wasa data visualization project.

Only, we didn't have data.

Traditional Provenance

Durand-Ruel, Paris, August 23, 1872 [1];Catholina Lambert, New Jersey;Lambert sale, American Art Association, Plaza Hotel, New York, NY, February 21, 1916 until February 24, 1916, no. 67; Durand-Ruel, Paris, until at least 1930; purchased by Simon Bauer, Paris, by June 1936 [2]; anonymous sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., February 25, 1970, no. 19 [3]; Sam Salz, Inc., New York, NY; purchased by Museum, May 1971.

Notes: [1] bought from the artist. [2] Listed and illustrated in "List of Property Removed from France during the War 1939-1945" (no. 7114, as belonging to Simon Bauer). [3] "Highly Important Impressionist, Post-Impressionist & Modern Paintings and Drawings", illustrated.

museum_provenance library

https://github.com/arttracks/museum_provenance

MIT License, standalone Ruby library. v. 0.1.1Standardizing Museum Provenance — David Newbury (@workergnome) 5

A UI tool for museum professionals.

What comes next?Collaboration and formalizationthrough Linked Data.

Why do museumsneed Linked Data?

(When thinking abouttheir collections.)

Linked Open Data.

I'm not here to talk about if weshould share our data.

Why do museumsshare their data?

Are museums Publishers?

Yes.But we do more than publish information—we generate our own.

Are museums Researchers?

Yes.But we don't generate random information, we research specific objects.

Museumsare Collections.

We don't just collect.We research, collect, and preserve information about our objects, as well as the events, people, and topics that give them context.

The Promise of Linked Data:

[The] creation of a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries, to be processed automatically by tools as well as manually, including revealing possible new relationships among pieces of data.

— W3C Semantic Web Working Group

Linked Data:

Where is this magical future?

What doesn't Linked Data do?

EnableWeb Scale AI

Create Easy Interoperability

Automate Reconciliation

Reduceour Workload

An awkwardmoment goes here.

(This could be a very short talk.)

Linked Data isnot a magic bullet.

It's one of a many possible abstract data models, each of which have tradeoffs.

Art Tracks, Phase IIFunded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

ca. 2016-2017

How to express provenance information as:

• Linked Open Data

• JSON data structure

• Standardized text

All three forms must containthe same information, andwe must be able to convertbetween them.

Content Mgmt. SystemsWhat we have.

Scholarship, Shared OnlineWhat we want.

Linked Open DataWhat we're talking about.

Documents & GraphsTwo different shapes for the same content.

Documents, JSON & GraphsThree different shapes for the same content.

Mary Cassatt, Young Women Picking Fruit.Carnegie Museum of Art.

Mary Cassatt, Young Women Picking Fruit.Carnegie Museum of Art, 1894.

Mary Cassatt [1844-1926], France; Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, by August 1892 [1]; Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY, 1895; purchased by Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, October 1922.

Notes:[1]. Recorded in stock book in August 1892.

The Document

The Timeline

Mary Cassatt [1844-1926], France; Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, by August 1892 [1]; Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY, 1895; purchased by Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, October 1922.

Authorities:Mary Cassatt: see http://viaf.org/viaf/2478969/ Galeries Durand-Ruel: see http://viaf.org/viaf/153354503Durand-Ruel Galleries: see http://viaf.org/viaf/134060200Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute: see http://viaf.org/viaf/147742484France: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/1000070Paris, France: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7008038New York, NY: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7007567Pittsburgh, PA: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7013927

Reason #1:

Linking to Other Authoritiesand the Local Heroes Problem

Authority,Identity, & Trust.

We're making authoritative assertions about identity.

We want to be the "source of truth" for the objects in our collections.

Authority isn't free.

Maintaining authority takes enormous time and resources.

The world is vast.To fully describe everything that connects to our collection, we must describe the universe.

Budgets are...less vast.

How can we be authoritative without being encyclopedic?

Asserted Authority.

When you want to bethe authority of recordfor something or someone.

Delegated Authority.

When you want to point tosomeone who you trust to bethe authority of record.

Reluctant Authority.

When you cannot findan authority you trust.

MicroAuthority

A minimalistCSV-based authority file

Enables small institutionsto connect to their local heroes

Mary Cassatt [1844-1926], France;

Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, by August 1892 [1];

Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY, 1895;

purchased by Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, October 1922.

Authorities:Mary Cassatt: see http://viaf.org/viaf/2478969/ Galeries Durand-Ruel: see http://viaf.org/viaf/153354503Durand-Ruel Galleries: see http://viaf.org/viaf/134060200Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute: see http://viaf.org/viaf/147742484France: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/1000070Paris, France: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7008038New York, NY: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7007567Pittsburgh, PA: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7013927

Reason #2:

Shared SemanticsHow do we know we're talking about the same thing?

JSON Data Structure

This is understandable,If you're me.

But you're not me.

Linked Data as Documentation

When I say "Transfer of Custody",I mean...

JSON-LD & CIDOC-CRM

This is more complex,but that complexityis documented.

What aboutthe gaps?

Nothing is comprehensive.

museumprovenance.org/reference/acquisition_methods

Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, by August 1892 [1];

Authorities:Durand-Ruel Galleries: #1 http://viaf.org/viaf/134060200Paris, France: see http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7008038

Reason #3:

Minimum Viable Collaboration

Getty Provenance IndexRemodel Project

Similar project, different goals.

Four levelsof provenance?

Reason #4:

The unattainability of complete knowledge.

Internal Transaction Events(Level Four)*

To Recap:

1. Shared Authority

2. Shared Understanding

3. Easy Collaboration

4. Planning for the Future

The Future?

Thank You.

For more information, visit:www.museumprovenance.org

Initial funding for Art Tracks was provided in part by a generous grant by theInstitute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for Phase II has beenprovided by the National Endowment for the Humanities with additionalresearch support provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and thePaul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

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