The document discusses the Field Book Project, which aims to create an online Field Book Registry to provide centralized access to field book content from various collections. Field books are unpublished records created by scientists during fieldwork that document specimens, environments, and collecting events. The project involves cataloging, conserving, and digitizing field books to make their valuable information more accessible while preserving the historical materials.
2. National Museum of Natural
History & Smithsonian
Institution Archives
Mission: to create a Field
Book Registry, one online
location for field book
content everywhere.
3. Why the Field
Book Project?
• Field books are not co-
located
• Access points are
inconsistent
• Field Books are Hidden
Collections!
24. Overview of Description
EAC Organization NCD Collection
OrgId: EACO9 CollectionId: NCDC78
Name: Smithsonian Institution, Title: Frederick Coville,
National Museum of Natural History, field books, 1890-1924
Department of Botany Owner: EACO9
Creator: EACP173
Description: The collection consists of
EAC Person Coville's field notes from botanical
collecting and observation efforts in …
PersonId: EACP173
Name: Coville, Frederick
(Frederick Vernon), 1867-1937
Dates: 1867-1937 MODS Item
Biographical history: Frederick Vernon MODSid: MODSI1281
Coville, botanist and blueberry breeder, Collection: NCDC78
was born in New York and educated… Title: Field notes, Death Valley
Expedition, 1891
Dates: 1891.05.10-1891.07.30
EAC Expedition Creator: EACP173
ExpId: EACE0017 Expedition: EACE 0017
Name: Death Valley Expedition Abstract: This item contains narrative
Dates: 1890-1891 notes and lists of botanical specimens
Description: The Death Valley Expedition collected or observed during Coville's
was the first biological survey to … research in Death Valley . …
28. Field Book Project Team
Rusty Russell
Collections & Informatics, Botany
Anne Van Camp
Director, SI Archives
Carolyn Sheffield, Project Manager
Sonoe Nakasone, Cataloging Coordinator
Lesley Parilla, Cataloger and Graphics Designer
Emily Hunter, Cataloger and Social Media Coordinator
Ricc Ferrante, Director of Digital Services, SIA
Kira Cherrix, Image and Video Digitization Specialist, SIA
Tammy Peters, Supervisory Archivist, SIA
Sarah Stauderman, Collections Care Manager, SIA
Nora Lockshin, Paper Conservator, SIA
Janelle Batkin-Hall, Conservation Technician, SIA
Kirsten Tyree, Conservation Technician, SIA
Hinweis der Redaktion
I won’t go into too much detail here, but this diagram may do a better job of showing how our descriptive practices can link resources and provide that context. As I mentioned, we describe at the item and collection level. We also use EAC to create authority files for Organizations, people and expeditionsI’m just going to give you the basic concept, which I think is more interesting than the nuts and bolts of it anyway.EAC authority files providebiographical background on field book creators… so we can see where they are from, who they studied with, etc. Also for organizations and expeditions.You can also link these histories… so that we get this kind of historical social network… who was doing what with whom, where and when.Able to link field books related to same person/organization/expedition.