Date of Creation

Required: 2D Objects, 3D Objects, Born Digital.

Definition

The Date element records the date of creation, production or publication of the object. For unpublished works the date will refer to a date of creation. For published objects such as prints there may be a publication date and/or a copyright date.

i. Types of Date

Only the creation date is mandatory; if not known, it can be estimated.

Creation Date Record the date the object was created or produced.

Publication Date If applicable and known, record the date the object was published.

Other Dates Some objects can have multiple creation dates relating to different aspects of the process, or a date range to capture a period of creation. Where necessary include a note to explain the dates given to the object. Any other known dates associated with the alteration of the object should be added to a note or description field in the record.

photograph taken 1898, printed 1914

Dates relating to acquisition, purchase, accession or ownership of an object should be included in the provenance element.

ii Date Formats

For free text fields in a database, record the date to the greatest specificity known. Ensure the date cannot be misread - where the date field is free text use the format year, month-year, or date-month-year.

Year	1954
Month, Year	April 1954
Date, Month, Year	04 April 1954
Century	19th century
Year range	1860-1893

For dates recorded in fixed fields in a database, enter the year or range of years. Where a range of years applies, record the Earliest and Latest dates in dedicated fields, if the system in use allows.

iii. Unknown and approximate dates

Where a date cannot be determined the cataloguer should enter an estimated or probable date.

If the date of creation can only be ascribed to a broad date range the cataloguer should record the relevant time period.

iv. Source of Date

Where dates are taken from another source or estimated this must be made clear in the record, either within an explanatory note or by the use of square brackets.

v. Dates for Groups of Objects

For groups of objects, record the range of dates for the earliest known or estimated date to the latest known or estimated date for the whole group of objects being catalogued, not ranges of dates for each object.

Related Elements

Dates transcribed from the object are included in the Inscription element.