Part 3: Authorities

A.4 Subject Authority

A.4.1.1 Discussion

The Subject Authority contains terminology related to subjects depicted in a work or image (see Chapter 6: Subject and Chapter 9: View Information: View Subject). The authority should be reserved for iconographical terminology, including proper names of literary, mythological, or religious characters or themes, historical events and themes, and any other terminology needed for subjects that fall outside the scope of the other three authorities.

Given the wide range of subject matter of works, the Subject Authority must necessarily be built and maintained in a way best suited to the individual requirements of the collection being cataloged. Unlike with the Personal and Corporate Name Authority or the Geographic Place Authority, there is no single published authority file that can serve as a model source in building a subject authority file. Institutions must analyze the characteristics of their collections and the requirements of their users, and organize categories (or facets) and subcategories of subjects that make sense for their individual situation (for example, Christian Iconography, Hindu Iconography, Historical Events, Literature, and the like).

Named Iconographic Subjects, Literature, and Events

Iconography is the narrative content of a figurative work depicted in terms of characters, situations, and images that are related to a specific religious, social, or historical context. The subject authority should contain the proper names or titles of iconographic subjects. Themes from religion, such as Ganesha or Life of Jesus Christ, and mythology, such as Herakles or Quetzalcóatl (Maya deity), are iconography. Themes from literature, such as Jane Eyre or Lohengrin, and historical events, such as Coronation of Charlemagne or United States Westward Expansion, are also included.¹

Buildings and Other Works as Subjects

The proper names of buildings may be used in the Subject and Location fields of a Work Record. For example, if you are cataloging a 19th-century watercolor of the Parthenon, you will want to record the subject Parthenon in that Work Record. There are two approaches for maintaining an authority file for building names. Names of buildings can be recorded as subject terms in the Subject Authority. Note, however, that if the cataloging institution wishes to retrieve information on the buildings as works in their own right, the buildings should be recorded also (or instead) as separate Work Records, where the names of architects, dates, construction materials, and the like can be recorded together with the building names. The record for the built work would then be linked as a Related Work to the records for drawings, photographs, paintings, and other works in which it is depicted. Similar decisions should be made for paintings, sculptures, and other types of works that are depicted in art works. See Part 1: Related Works and Chapter 6: Subject for further discussion.

Subject Terminology in the Other Authorities

In cataloging a work or image, subject terms may be drawn from the Personal and Corporate Name Authority, Geographic Place Authority, and Concept Authority files as well as from the Subject Authority (see Chapter 6: Subject). It is more efficient to use the terms already included in the other authorities rather than to create duplicate Authority Records.

PEOPLE AND CORPORATE BODIES AS SUBJECTS

Personal and corporate body names that are subjects of works or images should be recorded in the Personal and Corporate Name Authority. CCO recommends that records for all actual persons be maintained in the Personal and Corporate Name Authority; an institution that diverges from this practice needs to establish clear criteria, first, for when the proper names of persons who are subjects of art works will be included in the Subject Authority and, second, when they will be included instead in the Personal and Corporate Name Authority. The boundary between actual historical persons and mythological, religious, or legendary persons may sometimes be unclear. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte would universally be recognized as a historical person, but the placement of Saint John the Baptist in the Subject Authority or the Personal and Corporate Name Authority may be decided differently by different institutions. Note that certain events, such as conferences, are typically treated as corporate bodies and recorded in the Personal and Corporate Name Authority.²

GEOGRAPHIC PLACES AS SUBJECTS

CCO recommends that geographic places that are subjects should be recorded in the Geographic Place Authority. Institutions should make decisions on mythological and legendary places to be included in the Subject or the Geographic Place Authority because the distinction between real and legendary places is not always easy to determine.

GENERIC SUBJECT TERMS

CCO recommends that genre terms such as still life or landscape be maintained in the Concept Authority. The Concept Authority will also contain terms for certain objects and general concepts: objects depicted as subjects (flowers, vase, table, tablecloth, hillfort, cathedral, trees), materials in subjects (satin, water, bread), activities (marriage, baptism, funeral, battle, coronation, Christmas), agents (king, bishop, peasants, guild, woman, housewife, prostitute, Felis domesticus, horses), physical attributes (yellow, zodiac symbols, Maltese cross, sunburst), associated concepts (pastoral, erotica, propaganda, grandeur, ugliness, Lutheran), and styles and periods as they are depicted in subjects (Roman ruins, African, punk costume).

Ambiguity and Uncertainty

When creating an Authority Record, the cataloger should state only what is known about the subject. When information is uncertain, it may still be recorded, but with an indication of uncertainty or approximation--such as ca. or probably--in the Note field. If specific information is unknown, more general data may be recorded. For example, for the subject Hannibal crossing the Alps, the cataloger may be uncertain in what Alpine chain Hannibal made his crossing; it would be better to name the larger mountain system Alps, rather than mistakenly naming an incorrect mountain pass or range. Important information in the note field should be indexed in controlled fields. Rules should be in place to ensure consistency in recording uncertain data.

Organization of the Data

As with all authority terminology, each subject may be known by various synonyms. These name variations for subjects are critical access points and are therefore required. Related keywords, described below, are recommended.

CCO recommends that the Subject Authority be in the form of a thesaurus to allow for equivalence, associative, and whole-part or genus-species relationships (see Part 1: Authority Files and Controlled Vocabulary: Thesaurus). When subjects are displayed in a Work or Image Record, an indication of the broader context of the subject is recommended where appropriate. Having a hierarchical structure that allows for the subject name to be displayed within its broader contexts, either indented in vertical displays or concatenated in horizontal strings, is recommended. Examples include Hannibal crossing the Alps (Punic Wars), Bastet (Egyptian goddess), and Aesop's Fables (Fables, Literature). In the absence of a hierarchical structure, from which it could be concatenated, a broader context display field could be constructed by hand.

Some fields in the Subject Authority may be used for display. Others are intended for retrieval. In the absence of a hierarchical structure, a broader context display field could be included. If date fields are included (the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), for example), they may comprise fields intended for display and others that are formatted and used for indexing and retrieval.

Some institutions may wish to make links from this authority file to the other three authorities. For example, to make a complete record for an event in the Subject Authority, it may be necessary to link to records for persons or geographic places in other authorities.

The Note need not be repeating. All other elements should be repeating. One of the names should be flagged as preferred. A brief discussion of the elements or fields recommended for this authority file follows later in this section. For further discussion of this authority file and additional fields, see Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Subject Identification. For further discussion of the relationships between this authority file and the Work Record, see Chapter 6: Subject.

Recommended Elements

A list of the elements discussed in this section appears below. Required elements are noted.

Notes

1. Named recurring events, such as conferences, are recorded in the Personal and Corporate Name Authority. See A1: note 1.
2. Included in the Personal and Corporate Name Authority are events that are formally convened, directed toward a common goal, capable of being reconvened, and have formal names, locations, dates, and durations that can be determined in advance of the event. See the Library of Congress Name Authority file and AACR for formulating names for such events.