The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging: A Revised and Expanded Version of Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects (American Association for State and Local History) [Hardcover]

James R. Blackaby (Author), Patricia Greeno (Author), The Nomenclature Committee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0761991476 | ISBN-13: 978-0761991472 | Edition: Rep Sub

Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects created the first common cataloging language for museums and other historical collections. Now The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging develops Chenhall's ideas to provide updated material so museums can use their collections to the fullest extent. The Revised Nomenclature provides a universally accepted classification system with terminology that allows curators, registrars, and catalogers to describe artifacts precisely. It also creates a standard for cataloging so that in-house record keeping is complete and accurate for use by all staff members and the exchange of cultural objects and information between museums is possible on both a national and international scale. This system deals with information, not with methods of recording that information, and enables even the smallest museum's terminology to be in synchronization with the largest metropolitan museum. No museum can afford to be without this book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The Nomenclature Committee

Product Details

• Hardcover: 520 pages
• Publisher: Altamira Press; Rep Sub edition (October 6, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761991476
• ISBN-13: 978-0761991472
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,562,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History Museums Would Be Lost Without This Book, December 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging: A Revised and Expanded Version of Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects (American Association for State and Local History) (Hardcover)

When I started in the museum field over seven years ago, I initially found Nomenclature confusing and cumbersome. Now that I have cataloged thousands of objects using the system, I can think of no other way. To catalog for five different institutions using Nomenclature allowed for continuity and opened my mind to new terms and classifications. Science and history, in essence, meet.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dot matrix printing??? seriously??, November 9, 2007

By 

nfidel (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging: A Revised and Expanded Version of Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects (American Association for State and Local History) (Hardcover)

Don't get me wrong; the content is fine, and very useful, but does it really have to be so hard to look at?

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Needs an update, October 31, 1999

By 

ADP (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging: A Revised and Expanded Version of Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects (Hardcover)

As a museum cataloger, I've now worked with Chenhall's system in several contexts, and on both 19th and 20th century museum collections. The system is great for the former (especially with its specialized vocabulary for wood, metal, and agricultural tools) but needs an update to be more useful for the latter. I used to work on the Park Service's Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, and we found ourselves inventing new terms frequently (although we were still able to use the item-purpose taxonomy).