Museums in Canada that are documenting their historical collections in English generally use one of two well-known classification systems:
- Nomenclature 3.0 (or the older Revised Nomenclature, or
- the Parks Canada Classification System for Historical Collections and its updated online version, the Parks Canada Descriptive and Visual Dictionary of Objects
Both are standards used by museums to classify their collections, and to identify precise and consistent names for objects.
But how can a museum choose between these systems? Can museums use both? What are their relative strengths?What are their main differences and similarities?
A paper, entitled Adopting a Classification System for Collections of Human-Made Objects, is available on the Nomenclature Community “Resources” page, found within the Nomenclature Community. It provides an overview and comparison of these two North American standards, and guides museums in their choice.
Please visit the Nomenclature Community for access to many Nomenclature resources, including papers, tutorials, submission forms, and more!
