In ArchivesSpace, Agents are used to represent people, corporate entities, families, or software application that is either the subject of an archival resource or aggregate, or responsible in some way for the creation or management of that resource or aggregate. The Agents tables allow for rudimentary local name authority control in the ArchivesSpace application. Our general principles for local authority work in Special Collections and Archives may be found here.
Required fields will appear in bold.
| Publish | |
| Description | Switch for publishing the record in the public user interface |
| Local Rules | Ensure this box is checked if you wish for the record to appear in the public user interface |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | agent_person.publish |
| Name Forms | |
| Description | Forms of name by which the agent was known or referred. |
| Local Rules | At least one form of name is required. If an agent was known or referred by more than one name in their lifetime or organizational history, multiple name forms may be assigned to the Agent record. All name forms should be entered according to the guidelines before. ArchivesSpace will automatically add punctuation to index and display names according to DACS and RDA guidelines. One name form should be designated the Authorized and Display name. If taken from an existing authority file, this form should be the authorized form from that authority file. Note that the authorized and display forms are usually, though not always, the same. See the record for Berry, Dokes (Dorothy Kobey), 1905-2009 for an example of a Person with multiple forms of name. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | agent_person.name_person |
| Name Forms: Authorized | |
| Description | The authorized form name for the described Person. |
| Local Rules | One authorized form of name per agent. Exports as true or false. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.is_authorized |
| Name Forms: Display Name | |
| Description | The form of name which displays in metadata forms for objects to which the Person record is linked. |
| Local Rules | One display name per agent. Exports as true or false. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.is_display_name |
| Name Forms: Authority ID | |
| Description | The uniquely identifying string used for the described agent, according to the authority file specified in the Source. |
| Local Rules | Required if establishing against an existing authority file; if the source is local, the Authority ID is not required. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.authority_id |
| Name Forms: Source | |
| Description | The origin of the provided description for the Agent. |
| Local Rules | Select from the drop-down list. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.source |
| Name Forms: Rules | |
| Description | The cataloging rules governing the creation of the Agent record. |
| Local Rules | Select from the drop-down list. Usually DACS; sometimes RDA or Local Rules. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.rules |
| Name Forms: Name Order | |
| Description | Determines the order in which the personal name form elements are displayed. |
| Local Rules | Select from the drop-down list. If 'inverted' is selected, the name will order itself as 'Last Name, First Name' (that is, the Primary Name will export first, followed by a comma, followed by the Rest of Name and any other name form parts). If 'direct' is selected, the entire name (apart from titles or qualifiers) should be encoded in the Primary Form of Name field. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.name_order |
| Name Forms: Prefix | |
| Description | Prefatory appellations to a name. |
| Local Rules | Used for titles such as 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.', when other identifying name parts are unknown. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.prefix |
| Name Forms: Title | |
| Description | An honorific that is part of the name of the Person being described. |
| Local Rules | Used for specific honorary titles bestowed on the Person being described, if it constitutes a key part of their name. Examples include 'Sir' or 'Queen of England.' You may use terms such as 'Rabbi' here if a person's first name is unknown. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.title |
| Name Forms: Primary Form of Name | |
| Description | The primary part of the name by which the person being described is known. |
| Local Rules | If the Name Order is Indirect, this will be the individual's last name. If the Name Order is Direct, this will be the name by which they are commonly known. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.primary_name |
| Name Forms: Rest of Name | |
| Description | The remainder of the name by which the person being described is known. |
| Local Rules | Required if the Name Order is 'Indirect.' This is the person's first name, first name followed by middle initial, or their initials. Only provide punctuation for first or middle initials, if providing. |
| Examples |
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| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.rest_of_name |
| Name Forms: Suffix | |
| Description | Trailing portions of the name of the person being described. |
| Local Rules | |
| Examples | Jr., Sr., etc. |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.suffix |
| Name Forms: Fuller Form of Name | |
| Description | Long-form versions of the name of the person being described; spelled-out initials, legal names if the Rest of Name is a nickname, etc. |
| Local Rules | ArchivesSpace will automatically punctuate this field. Do not enclose in parentheses |
| Examples | Dorothy Kobey (for Berry, Dokes (Dorothy Kobey), 1905-2009 |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.fuller_form |
| Name Forms: Number | |
| Description | Numbers comprising a portion of the name of the person being described. |
| Local Rules | Any numbers that are part of a name, such as II or III, may be provided in this field. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.number |
| Name Forms: Dates | |
| Description | The life dates of the person being described, if known and/or required for disambiguation. |
| Local Rules | Enter life dates here. Do not enter life dates in any other section of the Agent record. MARC and MODS exports use this field to populate the appropriate subfields for life dates, such as 100$d. If only a birth date is known, enter in the form '1945-' (where the birth date is succeeded by a hyphen). If only a death date is known, enter in the form 'd. 1945' (where the death date is preceded by 'd. '). |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.dates |
| Name Forms: Qualifier | |
| Description | A geographic or occupation-specific qualifier to distinguish between two people who would otherwise share a name in the authority file. |
| Local Rules | This field is used if two Agents with identical names exist in the repository, as a means of disambiguation. Common qualifiers include occupations ("Basketball player") or locations ("Durango, Colo."). |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | name_person.qualifier |
| Contact Details | |
| Description | Contact information for the organization being described. |
| Local Rules | The Contact Details section allows for recording of contact information for any Agent in the database. It functions more or less as an address book, and can be used to maintain donor files within ArchivesSpace. It is at the discretion of the curator or accessioning archivist as to whether, and to what extent, this section should be filled out. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | agent_person.contact_details |
| Notes | |
| Description | Historical information about the organization being described. |
| Local Rules | You may add a Biographical/Historical Note to provide a life history of the person being described. You may also use the Citation sub-note type to provide citations for the information provided. </p>To enter a historical note, use the provided Text sub-note form to enter the information you wish to include. To add a citation, click on the "Add Sub Note" button in the Notes sub-form, select "Citation" as the Note Type, then enter the citation information in the provided text field. If the citation is for an unauthorized form of name, provide the form in parentheses in the citation, e.g.B333.01.0001.0001.00008 Lowenstein Family Holocaust Papers (Henry Lowenstein).</p>If you wish to provide a link directly to the cited material, you may enter that information in the "Xlink" sub-form; the label goes in the "Title" field, and the link in the "Href" field.</td> </tr> |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | agent_person.notes |
| Related Agents | |
| Description | An Agent in the ArchivesSpace name authority file that is linked in some way with the organization being described. |
| Local Rules | You may add Related Agents links to a person's authority record to indicate their relationships to other agents in the authority file, such as individuals to whom they were related by blood or law, or organizations with which they had a working relationship. Related Agent links are bi-directional; that is, when you create a link in one record, it will automatically be created on the linked record as well. Before creating a link to a related agent, ArchivesSpace will ask you for the specific type of relationship you are encoding. This affects the properties and values that the Related Agents sub-form will present to you. For persons, a user will likely only use the Associative Relationship type, used for pairing people with organizations or other individuals with whom they shared a relationship. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | agent_person.related_agents |
| Related Agents: Relationship Type | |
| Description | The type of relationship being encoded. |
| Local Rules | Required if encoding a related agent link. The values are determined by the Relationship Type indicated by the user before the sub-form appears. In almost all cases this will be "Associative Relationship" when working with personal authority records. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | related_agents.relator |
| Related Agents: Related Agent | |
| Description | The agent being linked to the organization being described. |
| Local Rules | Required if encoding a related agent link. Select using the linker, either by searching for the agent or by browsing in the provided modal pane. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | related_agents.ref |
| Related Agents: Description | |
| Description | A description of the agent relationship being encoded. |
| Local Rules | Provide a brief yet detailed description of the relationship. Note that this field will appear in both of the linked records in the relationship. Take care to specify both agents by name when providing a description of their relationship.
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| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | related_agents.description |
| Related Agents: Dates | |
| Description | Dates during which the relationship was active. |
| Local Rules | You may provide the dates of the linked relationship if you wish. Use the "Event" label when doing so. For other fields in the sub-form, follow the guidance provided in the guidelines for encoding dates in ArchivesSpace. |
| Examples | |
| ArchivesSpace Key | related_agents.dates |