[Mid] Re: The Problem of Documentation

Alys Katharine, the not-quite-as-fussy-judge wrote:

<I sat next to a judge this past weekend who tried to explain to an
entrant that the book's photo of an artwork was considered a
_secondary_ source. Her argument was that the book's author may have
taken, or selected, the photo of the painting to prove a point. She
said that if the entrant had taken the photo of the artwork herself it
would be primary but since it was in a book not published by herself it
was secondary. The entrant tried to say that the book was published by
a museum. I don't recall the ins and outs of the judge's comments (who
may be on Middlebridge...Hope I interpreted this correctly!) but the
judge still had a concern that the museum didn't print the book but
published it. The judge would grant that a photo of an artwork would
be primary if the museum put out a post card of the artwork or if the
museum actually put out the book.>

I was also not privy to the judge and entrant's conversation either. I also
have no idea what reference material the entrant was using. However, the Lady
Alys mentioned that the entrant said the book was published by a museum. I have
worked on museum publications and hold the belief that these professionals of
history would not sacrifice fact for the sake of a publication. If I were
presented with a museum-published reference work, I would give the entrant the
benefit of the doubt that the picture included in the work was a photograph of
an original work, unless the reference work stated otherwise. I would be very
interested to hear this judge's argument to the contrary.

Yours in service to the Dream,
Lady Hana Lore an dem Fenn, Minister of the Arts and Sciences to the Canton of
Rimsholt in the Barony of Andelcrag, Pentamer, Kingdom of the Middle.
From: AMY.VENLOS@EY.COM
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Received on Wed May 28 08:57:39 1997