The project documented museum objects and archival collections using the appropriate international standards. Each of the 118 museums and archives surveyed has a collection level description that provides a broad overview of a collection and its contents. This description is enhanced by more detailed descriptions of archival documents and museum objects held by the six project partners.

Collection level descriptions
Each archive and museum collection documented by the project has a collection level description that provides an overview of the collection’s history, context and content. This includes the collection’s title, location, date ranges of the material it includes, collection strengths, content and history.

These collection level descriptions have been created in line with the RSLP Collection Description Schema. This schema, while not a standard for documentation itself, maps to both the archive and museum documentation standards, and has been used successfully by other combined archive, library and museum projects such as Backstage, Mapping Wales and Crossroads.

For a sample collection level description using this schema click here.

Archive documentation
The contents of archive collections have been catalogued in accordance with ISAD(G), the International Council on Archives General International Standard for Archival Description (2nd edition, 2000).

Some archive collections are represented solely at collection level. In other cases, archives are catalogued at different levels, starting with the collection level description based upon the RSLP Collection Description Schema. The catalogue then drills down from collection level to descriptions of individual series of records like minute books, pattern books or staff records. This is followed by individual item level records describing a single minute book, pattern book or staff record. This “multi-level” or hierarchical approach to cataloguing makes it easier for the researcher to understand the relationships between individual archive items within the context of the whole archive collection.

Within each level of description the following details are always given:

• Reference number
• Title
• Covering dates
• Extent (how much of it there is)
• Name(s) of creator

Further contextual information, such as biographies of individuals, company histories, or links to related materials are given where necessary to help place the archive into context.

Museum documentation
In addition to collection level descriptions for each museum collection, the database contains descriptions of individual museum objects in the project partner collections. These descriptions conform to the Museum Documentation Association (MDA) SPECTRUM standard (2nd edition, 1997), specifically Procedure 6 – Cataloguing. For each item, or collection of items, the following information is given:

• Reference number
• Title/object name
• Number of objects/dimensions
• Creators
• Brief physical description
• Reference to any available images

For an example of an object description click here.

Surveys of related materials
As well as documenting the relevant collections held within the partner institutions, the project team surveyed collections relating to Scotland’s textile heritage held elsewhere in Scotland and the UK. The findings of this survey have been incorporated into the descriptions database with the archive and museum objects being documented at collection level.

Biographies and company histories
As well as providing descriptions of archives and museums collections, detailed information about selected creators of textile objects and archives is included on the website. Examples include authoritative information on companies such as J & P Coats Ltd, cotton thread manufacturers of Paisley and Donald Brothers Ltd, linen, canvas and furnishing fabric manufacturers of Dundee, and individuals such as embroidery lecturer Kath Whyte (1909-1996) or couture textile designer and colourist Bernat Klein (b1922). These have been created in line with the International Council of Archives International Standard Archival Authority Records for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families ( Ottawa, 1996) standard.

For a sample company history/personal biography record click here.

Indexing
The descriptions are further supplemented by controlled access points or index terms. These include indexes of personal and corporate names created according to the National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Corporate and Place Names (1997) and subject terms drawn from the Getty Art & Architecture thesaurus. These searchable index points provide another form of access to the descriptions of archives and objects.