Scope note

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This class expresses the fact that a physical thing is kept by an actor in a collection during a given time span. Although the given thing is generally kept physically in the collection, as a part of it, this class focuses on the social fact, i.e. the fact that the given thing is considered as kept in the collection. The thing may have been lent to another museum and therefore not be physically present but still be considered as belonging to the collection. An appropriate type will clarify the meaning of the keeping.

The archive reference concerning the specific physical thing at a given time, including the name of the collection and the identifier of the object held in it, can be used as the appellation of an instance of the Belonging to a collection class. The validity of the identifier in the context of the given belonging to a collection can be explicitly expressed using the crm-sup:C23 Identification class.

The kept thing and the collection are identity defining and must be provided in order to identify the Belonging. The actor in charge of the keeping is optional and can be associated to the collection using the crm:E87 Curation Activity class. Another actor could have rights, e.g. property, upon to the kept Physical Thing and this will be expressed using the sdh-so:C14 - Subjection to a Right or Obligation class.

The concerned collection can be defined at different levels. The highest one is the whole collection of a library or museum. As a matter of fact, it is relevant to distinguish the museum as an organisation (the actor) from its collection as the whole of the objects in its custody. The concerned physical thing can be declared as being kept inside the general collection, or in a more specific subcollection. Each subcollection, or subcollection of subcollection (as a subclass of physical thing), can be declared as belonging to a parent collection. This allows to establish a hierarchy of the different collections and series held e.g. in an archive.

 

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