Acquisition Method Vocabulary

Transfer of an Object

This category of events represents the transfer of ownership of an object from one party to another. This includes transfers that involve the exchange of value, such as purchases or exchanges. This also includes transfers that do not involve the exchange of value, such as gifts or bequests. This also includes transfers through illegal means, such as theft or looting.

By default, all events in a provenance record as assumed to be this type of event.

Acquisition

This object was acquired by the named party in an unknown fashion.

This is the default method for acquisitions and is the base type for all acquisitions.It should be used if there are no additional details available. If there is not an explicit acquisition method mentioned, this will be assumed.

Preferred Form:
Other Forms: by acquisition; acquired by

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Exchange of Value

This object was obtained in some manner by the named party through an exchange of value.

This is the base class for all transfers where something of value was exchanged between the acquiring party and the receiving party. This does not specify any details about the manner of the sale or the type of value exchanged. In general, if it is assumed that money was exchanged, use ‘purchased by’

Preferred Form: through an exchange of value, to

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993] through an exchange of value, to, St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Assignment

Ownership is assigned to the named party due to a previous agreement.

Preferred Form: assigned to

Example: assigned to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Sale

This object was purchased by the named party.

Preferred Form: purchased by
Other Forms: bought by; by purchase; purchased; sold to

Example: purchased by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Private Sale

This object was purchased by the named party from another party in a sale that was not publicly advertised and/or available.

Preferred Form: privately purchased by
Other Forms: sold privately

Example: privately purchased by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Purchase at Auction

This object was purchased by the named party at auction.

Preferred Form: purchased at auction by
Other Forms: by auction, to; by auction; sold at auction; sold at auction to; bought at sale by

Example: purchased at auction by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Exchange

This object was acquired by the named party, but something of value was exchanged for the object instead of money.

Preferred Form: by exchange, to
Other Forms: by exchange; acquired by exchange

Example: by exchange, to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Forced Sale

This object was purchased by the named party using involuntary pressure on the seller.

Preferred Form: forced sale, to
Other Forms: by forced sale

Example: forced sale, to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Assumption of Ownership

This object was acquired by the named party in some way that did not involve an exchange of value.

Preferred Form: ownership assumed by

Example: ownership assumed by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Appropriation

This object was acquired by the named party without the consent of and without an exchange of value to the previous owner.

Preferred Form: appropriated by

Example: appropriated by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Confiscation

This object was legally appropriated by an entity without the consent of the previous owner.

Preferred Form: confiscated by

Example: confiscated by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Theft

This object was stolen by the named party.

Preferred Form: stolen by
Other Forms: by theft; via theft

Example: stolen by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Looting

This object was looted during a conflict by the named party.

Preferred Form: looted by

Example: looted by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Restitution

This object was returned to the named party after having previously been illegally taken from them.

Preferred Form: restituted to
Other Forms: by restitution; via restitution

Example: restituted to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Conversion

This object was acquired by the named party through some form of eminent domain.

Preferred Form: appropriated by
Other Forms: by appropriation; by conversion, to; by conversion

Example: appropriated by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Gift

This object was given to the named party.

Preferred Form: gift to
Other Forms: gifted to; donated to; given to

Example: gift to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Prize

This object was won be the named party as part of a competition.

Preferred Form: won by
Other Forms: awarded to

Example: won by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Transfer

This object was given to the named party from another part or element of the same named party.

This is typically used for objects transferring from one department to another within an organization. It is NOT used for moments when an organization changes legal form; see by consolidation for that. This is also often used when an item is transferring from some form of partial ownership to being completely owned by one of the partial owners.

Preferred Form: transferred to
Other Forms: by transfer

Example: transferred to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Bequest

This object was given to the named party through a will or other means following the death of the previous owner.

Preferred Form: bequest, to
Other Forms: by bequest; bequeathed to

Example: bequest, to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

By Descent

This object was given to the named party following the death of a previous owner who was their family member.

Note that this does not include the automatic transfer to a spouse following post WWII property law. See ‘via marriage’ for those instances.

Preferred Form: by descent to
Other Forms: by descent; by inheritance to; by inheritance

Example: by descent to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

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Origination of an Object.

This category of events describe the beginning of an object. This may represent the creation of an object or the moment in which the object began to be perceived as an art object. This relates to the specific physical or conceptual object being described; for instance, this could describe the a specific print of a photograph OR the conceptual entity of the photo, but should not be used to record both in a single provenance record.

All objects are assumed to have be originated. Origination MUST be the first event in the provenance of an object. If a record does not have an origination event as the first event in the provenance, a generic origination event with no date and an unknown party is assumed.

Origination

This object was brought into existence in some manner.

This is the most general form of origination. It does not specify any particulars about the origination event, only that it existed and some party had agency in then origination.

Preferred Form: gave origin by

Example: gave origin by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Creation

This object was created by the named party.

Preferred Form: created by

Example: created by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Found

This object was found by the named party.

Preferred Form: found by
Other Forms: discovered by

Example: found by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Recognization

This object was recognized as an artistic object by the named party.

Preferred Form: recognized by

Example: recognized by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Discovery

This object was discovered by the named party as part of an archaeological event.

Preferred Form: discovered by

Example: discovered by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Illegal Extraction

his object was extracted without legal permission by the named party as part of an archaeological event.

Preferred Form: illegally extracted by

Example: illegally extracted by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Excavation

This object was uncovered by the named party as part of an archaeological event.

Preferred Form: excavated by

Example: excavated by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Reclearing

This object was recleared by the named party as part of an archaeological event.

This indicates and object that had been prviously been excavated, by not removed at that time.

Preferred Form: recleared by

Example: recleared by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Field Collection

This object was extracted by the named party as part of an archaeological event.

Preferred Form: field collected by
Other Forms: by field collection; extracted by; by field collection

Example: field collected by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Conceptualization

This abstract object was conceived by the named party as an artistic object.

Preferred Form: conceptualized by

Example: conceptualized by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Fabrication

A physical instance of a conceptual object was created by the named party.

Preferred Form: fabricated by
Other Forms: published by; printed by

Example: fabricated by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Commission

This object was commissioned by the named party.

Note that this does not assume the named party received custody of the object. Typically, this would be followed by an agent who would be the fabricator, and then by a delivery of the object to the named party.

Preferred Form: commissioned by
Other Forms: by commission; by commission, to; painted for; created for

Example: commissioned by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

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Disappearance of an Object.

This category of events indicates that the object being described no longer exists to the best knowledge of the author. Objects which have been destroyed fall into this category, as do objects which have been lost permanently. This can also be used to describe the completion of objects that are only intended to exist for a finite length of time.

By default, objects have not disappeared. If an object is believed to no longer exist, this SHOULD be recorded.

If recorded, this MUST be the final entry in a provenance record. There MUST be at most one disappearance event for an object.

There MAY be an party recorded with these events.

Disappearance

This object was removed from existence in some manner.

Preferred Form: disappeared by

Example: disappeared by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Physical Destruction

This object was permanently destroyed.

Preferred Form: destroyed by

Example: destroyed by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Expiration

This object came to its intended temporal ending.

Preferred Form: completed by

Example: completed by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Loss

This object has been lost and is not believed to be findable.

Preferred Form: lost by

Example: lost by Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

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Division of Custody & Ownership

This category of events describe moments where custody, but NOT ownership of an object is given to a party. Typical examples of this include consignment or loans.

In Possession

The named party has temporary custody, but not ownership of this object.

By default, ownership is assumed in this model. This is used to explicitly indicate that the named party does NOT have ownership of the object.

Preferred Form: in custody of
Other Forms: with; posessed by

Example: in custody of Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

On Deposit

The named party has been given temporary custody without permission to sell or exhibit the object.

This differs from on loan chiefly when the temporary custody is done for the owner’s benefit, not the temporary custodian’s benefit.

Preferred Form: on deposit to
Other Forms: on deposit; on deposit at

Example: on deposit to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Consigned

The named party has been given custody with the intent for them to sell the object.

Preferred Form: consigned to
Other Forms: In sale at; sale; sold by; sold at; sale,

Example: consigned to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

On Loan

The named party has been given temporary custody for use, but without permission to sell the object.

Preferred Form: loaned to
Other Forms: on loan to; on permanent loan to; on long term at; on longterm loan at; on extended loan at

Example: loaned to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

On Tour

The named party has been granted custody as part of a series of loans.

Preferred Form: toured to

Example: toured to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

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Rejoining of Custody & Ownership

This category of events describe moments where the custody and ownership of an object are reunited in a single party. This implies that the party named in the immediately preceding event did not have ownership of the object, and thus MUST either follow a custody division event or a break in knowledge.

The party described is the receiving party, and they MUST already have been named as the owning entity.

Delivered

This object was delivered to the owning party by a party which had temporary custody.

Preferred Form: delivered to

Example: delivered to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Returned

This object was returned to the owning party from a party which had temporary custody.

Preferred Form: returned to

Example: returned to Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

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Transformation of Party

This category of changes are used to handle instances in which an party becomes another party through some sort of legal change. This is explicitly not for name changes; in that case the party remains the same party. However, this is used to record changes via marriages, corporate mergers, or widowhood.

Party Transformation

One legal party has transformed itself another legal party.

Preferred Form: who became

Example: who became Vincent Price [1911-1993], St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Marriage

One individual has married another, and ownership is now shared.

Preferred Form: via marriage

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993] via marriage, St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Widowhood

One individual in a marriage has died, and ownership is assumed by the surviving party.

Preferred Form: via widowhood

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993] via widowhood, St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Divorce

A marriage has been legally dissolved, and ownership has been assumed by one of the married parties.

Preferred Form: via divorce

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993] via divorce, St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Death

This is used for the transfer to an estate from a party who has died.

Preferred Form: via death
Other Forms: via his death; via her death; via their death

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993] via death, St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Partial Gift

This is used for the transfer from one party to a legal entity that includes both themselves and another party.

Preferred Form: via partial gift
Other Forms: partial gift to

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993] via partial gift, St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

Organizational Consolidation

One organization has joined with another organization, and the combined organization has assumed ownership.

Preferred Form: via consolidation

Example: Vincent Price [1911-1993] via consolidation, St. Louis, Missouri, July 1969.

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