Authority Records and Disambiguation

This past week marked phase two of my practicum in which I began learning how to create local authority records for the women whose names I have researched.  I have now completed research on the pre-marriage names of 160 women in the carte de visite collection (sadly there are many hundreds more still to go).  As I researched the women's names I have used a rubric to note whether I am certain of the name I found, if it needs more research to verify the name, or if it was not found.  Right now, I am just working on the authority records for names of the women of whom I am certain.  

At the Chicago History Museum, we are using Horizon as the Integrated Library System (ILS).  To update the authority record with the pre-marriage name of the women in the carte de visites, I first look up the name that it was originally listed under.  Then, I change the 100 field to a 400 field (personal name not used as the established heading) and I change the 100 field to include the woman's actual name.  Additionally, I add a 670 note to include the source where I found the information and 678 field for any pertinent biographical or historical information.  Lastly, I add a 667 note stating what the previous established name was and what is was changed to as part of the Naming Women Project at the Chicago History Museum. 

Next, I open up the bib record and make sure the 245 title matches what is written on the label of the carte de visite.  Some bib records had confusing information about the physical description, so I check and correct that if needed.  I also add a 500 note if there is any important information written on the back of the photo and a 545 note with any relevant biographical information that might be helpful to researchers. Lastly, I add a 583 note with information about the Women Naming Project.

Yesterday, I worked with Elizabeth McKinley in the research center while she was working at the reference desk.  I'm still new to using Horizon and I have had a lot of questions so it was helpful to have her nearby.  I came across a particularly tough situation for disambiguation with Mrs. Marshall Field.  It was further confused by the fact that the carte de visite I was updating seemed to be missing.  We realized that the items must have been mistakenly categorized as carte de visites when they were actually cabinet cards, a much larger type of photograph.  But on top of that, there was quite a bit of confusing language that had been used to describe the women.  First, there is more than one Marshall Field, and Marshall Field the first was labeled in the collection as both "Sr." and "I".  To make things even more opaque, Marshall Field was married twice so there were actually two Mrs. Fields.  Both women were described as "Mrs. Marshall Field, I".  So even though I had researched the names of both women, it was difficult to determine which one was the first wife and the second wife, and whether the "I" stood for the first Marshall Field or the first wife!  It was a bit of a stumbling block, to say the least.  We finally got it straightened out and were able to change the authorized heading to include the women's actual names.  This process underscored the essential purpose of this project.  By including the women's full names and birth and death dates, it becomes much simpler for disambiguation.  

An important resource I have been using is the Library of Congress' MARC 21 Authority Data webpage.  This has been an essential tool for figuring out the tags and subfields needed when I am working on the authority records:  https://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/   

And just for fun, here's another sad and amazing story I came across: the story of Lucy Jane Young Bliss.  She died in a train accident at the young age of 35.  She and her husband were traveling home when a bridge gave way as the train was crossing.  Her husband escaped the train after the crash and went back to try to free Lucy. However, they both perished in a fire soon after the crash.  They left behind two young children.  So tragic!

Lucy Jane Young Bliss (1841-1876)
from the Carte de Visite collection of  Chicago History Museum

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