Derivation of a person/corporation gazetteer in Wikibase using the example of previous owners in the years 1933-1945
Provenance data for objects in museum and collection databases includes information about previous owners and sellers. These can be individuals or corporate entities. Some of these are stored in the databases as authority data (e.g., VIAF, GND, Getty AAT). Examples include Dr Philipp Lederer and Felix Schlessinger. However, some entities are only recorded in the respective object databases, and their identifiers are not openly provided as URIs (e.g., because they are not included in the GND). Examples of this, linked only within the respective databases, are Zakaris Bezdikian or the corporate entity Ignaz Storek (Brünn). Furthermore, the related authority files do not link the records of persons and corporate entities with the objects associated with them. Such linking, however, is a crucial tool in provenance research, enabling the reconstruction of former collections across institutional boundaries and diverse collecting interests.
This TWG aims to prototype the linking of persons and corporate entities with their associated objects in a Wikibase instance. Additionally, information about persons and corporate entities without external identifiers should be openly accessible. The results will be queried from the Wikibase instance via an automated script and converted into an SKOS representation to integrate the Provenance Gazetteer into DANTE. This exemplary workflow will be described generically in white papers to ensure transferability to other object groups and projects.
To achieve this, various participants will provide data on previous owners and sellers, particularly between 1933 and 1945. This period is especially suitable due to the availability of extensive datasets in many collections. In addition, the Provenance Research Community Cluster has expressed a desire to include data from colonial contexts. These will initially form a secondary thematic focus within the Wikibase. Overlaps between these two areas are also anticipated.
more iformation in OSF: https://osf.io/zms4b/