MESL Content Selection
Harvard University Art Museums
First Distribution Description
The Harvard University Art Museums approach to the selection of works for
the first round of distribution for the MESL project was very clinical
and
practical. Since the initial time frame for the selection of works was
limited, relying on existing visual documentation from our Photographic
Services Department was necessary in order to meet the required deadline.
The group of images available to the academic communities for selection
was
based upon existing high quality 8 x 10 color transparencies and color
slides of the HUAM collections. Naturally, these selections represent, in
general, the most well published works from our permanent collection. Had
time and resources permitted a different approach, the selection would
have
been driven by the academic needs. Due to copyright concerns,
contemporary
works with questionable copyright status were eliminated from the list of
available images.
Lists were generated for universities involved in MESL and the academic
community asked to make a selection from the list. When all selections
were
returned to the HUAM, we enterd all requests into our database and, based
on ther number of requests for an image, included or excluded images to
be
shared in the project. Works which were requested by two or more
institutions were included in the selection. Generally individual
requests
for an image were not included unless a strong case was made to justify
inclusion. The resulting list was particularly strong in 19th century
paintings and drawings and ultimately, the museum shared over the
required
500 images.
Accompanying collection data for the initital round of images ranged from
brief core records to complete documentation including full bibliography,
provenance and exhibition histories. Condition notes, conservation notes
and general curatorial notes were available for certain selections.
[ Content Selection-HUAM ] [ MESL Content Selection ]
Last Modified: Thursday, 01-Feb-1996 11:54:34 EST