Project:Meta/person

Beyond Notability: Person of Interest

A Person of Interest is typically a women who worked in archaeology, history and/or heritage between 1870 and 1950, and who we encounter in our main archival records of interest, but it may include some men and other women whose lives are sufficiently of interest to represent more fully.

Where the data is available, the below template should act as a guide for creating new item records for a Person of Interest.

Note that in some cases - such as when a women is listed as the supporter/proposer of the election of a man to, say, the Royal Archaeological Institute (e.g. E. Jackson (Q232) - few details may be known of the person of interest.

BEFORE CREATING A NEW ITEM ALWAYS SEARCH HERE TO CHECK IF A RECORD FOR THEM EXISTS ALREADY (you may be pleasantly surprised!)

Name

We want the label for each record to represent who women were, rather than - as was common when referring to women in the period - the men with who there were associated, typically by marriage. To support this ambition, please follow this guidance when recording names:

• Use the "Label" field to record a name, starting with given name(s) and ending with family name.
• Where a woman married, record in the "Label" field the family name most commonly occuring in archival material or by which they were most commonly known as (e.g. on Wikipedia/data).
• Avoid using titles in the "Label" field, unless given name(s) are unknown: e.g. record "Mary Smith" rather than "Mrs Mary Smith"; and "Mrs Smith" is acceptable only when given names are unknown.
• Avoid using given names for husbands (e.g. "Mrs John Smith") in the "Label" field.
• Avoid using initials (e.g. "Mrs J. Smith") in the "Label" field as these may refer to given names for husbands.
• Use the "Also known as" field to record all varient names encountered or known, including those rejected for use in the "Label" field by the above criteria.

Category

Instance of:

instance of (P12) is used to record that people are human (Q2137)

Capital and Resources

Election

For example for election to Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

election to SAL proposed by (P16) > name of primary proposer (e.g. Society of Antiquaries of London Council (Q27) or A H Thomas (Q155))

With possible qualifier(s):

• evidence (free text) (P21) > text used in the election papers.
• point in time (P1) > a date.
• part of (P4) > the meeting to which the election was proposed, typically Council Meeting (SAL) (Q32).
• is successful (P22) > takes items successful (Q36) and not successful (Q37).
• proposed election to SAL signed by (P32) > item(s) for person(s) who signed proposed election of the subject.
  • where signatures are indecipherable, use signatory indecipherable (Q47) with note (P47) to record multiple instances (see, for example, Margerie Venables Taylor (Q133)).
• evidence (item) (P20) > item(s) of evidence in citation, such as a book (e.g. Roman Sculpture from Augustus to Constantine (Q26)) or scholarly article (e.g. Marcus Gheeraerts, Father and Son, Painters (Q79).

Residence

resided at (P29) > item for town/village/city in which the person once resided, e.g. West Hoathly (Q183).

With possible qualifier(s):

• street address (P31) > free text street address.
• start time (P27) > date at which they began living at the above residence.
• end time (P28) > date at which they ceased living at the above residence.
• point in time (P1) > a date we know they lived at the above residence.
  • note that sometimes it is appropriate to give P1 as unknown (click to the left of the text box and select 'unknown value') and combine with another datetype qualifier.
    • for example, see the residence (P29) statement for Nina Frances Layard (Q60) where we know she lived at Founerean Road in 1921 and that she couldn't have lived at Founerean Road before 1899, because we know she lived at Park Place in 1899.
• sourcing circumstances (P55) > a qualification of point in time (P1), such as circa (Q296).

Qualifications

academic degree (P59) > item for qualification level, e.g. master's degree (Q359).

With possible qualifier(s):

• conferred by (P61) > item for an awarding institution, e.g. University of London (Q154). If unrecorded, record unknown value (click to the left of the text box and select 'unknown value').
• academic subject (P60) > item for a degree programme. If unrecorded, record unknown value (click to the left of the text box and select 'unknown value').
• point in time (P1) > a date we know they lived at the above residence.
  • note that sometimes it is appropriate to give P1 as unknown value (click to the left of the text box and select 'unknown value') and combine with another datetype qualifier.
  • sourcing circumstances (P55) > a qualification of point in time (P1), such as latest date (P51).

Assigned Gender

assigned gender (P3) > item assigned gender, e.g. woman (Q3).

See Property talk:P3 for usage logic, as well as our blogpost 'On Working with Gender'.

Area of Expertise

area of expertise (P64) > free text entry quoting contemporary source.

Life Events (Births, Marriages, Deaths, Widowhood, Childbirth)

Dates:

date of birth (P26) is used to record date of birth and date of death (P15) to record date of death.

Place of birth:

use place of birth (P30) like residence (P29), as described above.

Family

Various family relationships can be recorded. If you can't find a relationship you want on the list list of properties, adopt it from wikidata. Usage is as follows:

spouse (P41) > item for spouse, e.g. Christopher Hawkes (Q97).

Activities

Public and Professional Activities

Public and Professional Activities (PPA) are work-like activities that people participated as part of their public and profession lives. See Project:Meta/public-and-professional-activities for a full explanation.

Usage patterns depend on the predicate. They include:

was member of (P67) or was fellow of (P75) > typically a society, such as Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (Q285), with qualifiers:

• relating to time (e.g. point in time (P1))

employed as (P105) or (for non-employed roles) held position (P17) > a job role (e.g. Editor (Q286) or Secretary (Q287); if unknown, record unknown value (click to the left of the text box and select 'unknown value')), with qualifiers:

• employer (P18) > name of employer (e.g. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (Q285)).
• relating to time (e.g. point in time (P1)).
• held position (free text) (P48) > direct quotation of position held, usually more specific than employed as (P105) object.
• base salary (free text) (P108)) > value
  • if unknown, record unknown value (click to the left of the text box and select 'unknown value').

collaborated with / contributed to (P83) or published with (P107) > typically an institution or publisher, such as Victoria County History (Q448), with qualifiers:

• relating to time (e.g. point in time (P1))

served on (P102) > typically a generic body, such as committee (Q589), with qualifiers:

• relating to time (e.g. point in time (P1))
• of (P78) > typically the name of society (e.g. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (Q436)).

attended (P24) > typically a generic body, such as [hhttps://beyond-notability.wikibase.cloud/wiki/Item:Q682 committee Annual Meeting (Q682)], with qualifiers:

• relating to time (e.g. point in time (P1))
• of (P78) > typically the name of society or group (e.g. Association of Women Pioneer Lecturers (Q697)).

student of (P95) > a person, with qualifiers:

• relating to time (e.g. point in time (P1))

Land-Proprietor Activities

For activities relating to having been a land-proprietor, record these as objects of the predicate land-proprietor activity (P103). These include:

• land-owner (Q530)
• sold land (Q678)
• retained excavation rights (Q680)

Before creating a land-proprietor activity item, check for pages that link to "Item:679" "land-proprietor activity category (Q679)".

Note that all new land-proprietor activities should be recorded as an instance of (P12) > land-proprietor activity category (Q679).

The uses of land-proprietor activity statements is varied, see Maud Cunnington (Q434) for examples of their use.

External Data

Link to Wikidata entry

Wikidata ID (P117) > free text identifer for person

With qualifier:

• described at URL (P14) > full url to Wikidata identifer for person, e.g. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18164438

Link to Archaeology Data Service entry

Archaeology Data Service person ID (P34) > free text identifer for person from Archaeology Data Service.

With qualifier:

• described at URL (P14) > full url to Archaeology Data Service identifer for person, e.g. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/personDetails.xhtml?personId=40029

Link to other IDs

Ideally link to VIAF using VIAF ID (P119), and to ISNI using ISNI ID (P125).

Items created before April 2023 may have links to WorldCat Identities using WorldCat Identities ID (P118). This service has now closed and no further usages of the replacement service - WorldCat Entities - will be made until the utility of the service has been evaluated.