Cataloging particulars

So I just finished a huge project that involved inventorying over 800 photos by Edward Weston. They were absolutely beautiful, so it was a fun job. I had to note down all the title, date and accession number information, exactly as it appeared on the print. This is a general cataloging practice as well as the best way to positively identify each print.

There was a small series of five that all had the title of “Wonderland of Rocks”. The parenthetical notes that followed the titles were as follows, though:

~~ Area later became Joshua Tree National Monument.
~~ Location now Joshua Tree National Monument.
~~ Later named Joshua Tree National Monument.
~~ Now, Joshua Tree National Monument.
~~ (none)

I was amused at the unnecessary albeit subtle diversity in these descriptive notes…. ^_^ They totally could have used one phrasing for all of them. But that’s my geeky cataloging side emerging, I guess.