Tips for Navigation
The King-Crane Commission collection website offers a number of methods for searching and navigating the digital collection to facilitate research: keyword quick search, collection browsing, and geographical searches. Each of these methods have respective advantages and disadvantages.
Users interested in more complex and specific forms of searching can use "Advanced Search". In order to do so, click "Browse the Collection" tab on the left side of the header above. At the top of the new page, click "Advanced Search", which opens the collection's search interface. The default option is for keyword searches across all fields, which is the same as the tool provided on this page. In order to open more options, click "Selected fields". Here, users can select and enter search terms in as many or as few metadata fields as they wish.
All methods for searching are built on the metadata that accompanies each item in the collection. Metadata serves three core purposes:
- Describing what is depicted by an image, or discussed by a document
- Providing an array of search terms for structured navigation
- Recording the physical archival repository of each item
When performing searches in the collection, several key metadata fields are most likely to produce positive results. Work type (AAT) is useful for helping to find specific types of materials. For example, selecting work type (AAT) and searching "photographs" is an easy method of isolating and viewing only images. For documents, there is a broader range of terms in this field. Some of interest may include "letters," "maps,""memorandums," "telegrams," and "petitions."
Two other key metadata fields are built on pre-determined vocabularies from the Getty Research Institute: spatial coverage (TGN) and subject (AAT). Spatial coverage (TGN) provides terms for the geographic area depicted by a photograph or discussed by a document, on several levels, including: individual cities (e.g. Damascus; Jerusalem), nations (e.g. Syria; Turkey), and historical regions (e.g. Palestine; Mesopotamia). (For a discussion of TGN terms, please see the Introductory Statement). Searches on the level of nations tend to yield better results.
The Subject (AAT) field was applied exclusively for photographs, using the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus, a vocabulary intended to describe the subjects depicted in images. Its ability to describe more complex aspects of the social and cultural setting is limited. Although terms such as "Christianity" and "Islam" are included, it is unable to distinguish between "Sunni" and "Shi'a" for example.
Oberlin is continually adding to and improving the King-Crane Commission digital collection. New features for navigation may continue to be added. If you have questions or feedback, please contact the project staff at kingcrane.commission@oberlin.edu.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Searching Methods
- Navigate by Keyword
Advantages: Keyword searching is a powerful tool, since it is universal across the entire collection, and nearly all metadata fields for each item.
Disadvantages: Metadata cannot provide comprehensive descriptions, meaning that many search terms may return few or no results, even if some documents in the collection do touch on the desired subject. Additionally, searches for isolated keywords can make it difficult to discern the relationships between individual records.
- Navigate by Collection
Advantages: Searching by this method more closely mirrors the usual archival research experience, and allows researchers to understand the collection as a whole, as well as the relationships between individual items.
Disadvantages: While this system organizes files down to the level of folders, it does not retain the original order of documents within each folder, which is often meaningful, and is usually preserved in physical archives. Additionally, this interface does not allow the selection of multiple folders or boxes, or the use of search terms within subsets of the collection.
- Navigate by Geography
Advantages: For researchers with specific geographic interests within the areas visited by the Commission, this search option offers a way to easily and strategically select specific locations to examine further. It also provides a useful visual element, unlike other forms of searches.
Disadvantages: Since not all documents and photographs in the collection can be linked with specific locations, this is not a comprehensive search tool. Many records are categorized at the level of countries or regions rather than individual cities.