The East Asia Image Collection makes use of the following metadata fields:
Titles in square brackets are the editor’s translations of Japanese titles, or assigned titles. Titles without brackets are transcribed verbatim from a record’s source material or are the English titles provided in bilingual sources.
Each title is preceded by a bracketed 6-digit record number (i.e. [wa0018] or [gr0195]). Record numbers are in the Title field to facilitate sorting of records listed as search results. The two-letter prefix indicates a subcollection: gr=Warner Taiwan Negatives; lw=Michael Lewis Collection; nf=Scenic Taiwan; js=Warner Japan Slides; ts=Taiwan Photographic Monthly; and wa=Warner Taiwan Postcards. Four-digit numbers represent sequences within subcollections. Each subcollection begins with record number [xx0001]. The record numbers are NOT the numerals followed by a period to the left of the thumbnail on the browsing page. These other numerals, which are also next to the check-boxes, represent a record’s position within the results page. Hence, “results” numbers change each time a user performs a sorting function or uses the “compare” feature. Record numbers are stable. They are used for citation and cross-referencing.
Titles in any language other than English are contained in the Alternative Title field.
Japanese titles are entered verbatim from Japanese source material. Sino-Japanese characters (kanji/hanzi) are generally entered as modern characters, even if the source material uses older forms.
Chinese titles are translations of Japanese or English titles. They appear in brackets since they are attributed, and do not appear on the artifacts themselves. Chinese titles are being added to images from China and Taiwan.
Korean titles are translations of Japanese or English titles. They appear in brackets since they are attributed, and do not appear on the artifacts themselves. Korean titles are being added to images from Korea.
These subject classification terms are developed, updated, and maintained by the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University, a hierarchical ethnographic subject classification index system. The three-digit numerals to the left of each hyperlinked subject heading are Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM) subject codes. Learn more at http://www.yale.edu/hraf/outline.htm.
Information about source material added by the editor and/or contributors.
Printed information connected to the images in the record. These have been reproduced (misspellings and idiosyncratic orthography/spellings included) as faithfully as possible. Translated Japanese captions are indicated by square brackets.
Printed information on the backs of postcards that provides information relevant to dating the postcard itself (not the image).
Place names are stored as URIs from the GeoNames webservice database, or, in rare situations, Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN). Most of the displayed location labels are in Pinyin. Romanized Japanese, Wade-Giles, Kanji, Hanzi, and other commonly used Romanized Chinese equivalents are listed here.
Formal, controlled subject terms or headings that describe the people, organizations, events, themes, or topics of the resource.
Ethnicities and/or nationalities are noted in the Subject field, if either people, artifacts, or a built environment connected with these peoples appears in the card. If there is no controlled OCLC FAST or LCSH subject heading for the ethnicity term, it appears in the Keyword field. There are numerous alternative Romanized spellings for Taiwanese ethnic groups. The following are the most generally used spellings, and are adopted for subject description of this collection: Han, Atayal, Bunun, Saisiat (Saisiyat), Sao (Thao), Tsou, Paiwan, Ami, Rukai, Puyuma, and Yami.
Names of Lafayette College students and faculty responsible for data input, translations, research, scanning, color correction, etc. In addition, this field lists names of experts who have provided content, criticisms, and other forms of assistance for a particular image.
Published images of the same or similar scenes, people, or objects, but shot from different angles at different times, ARE NOT included in this field. We are counting on users to alert the editor if these images appear in other publications, so we may create a “life history” of each image. Please send your identifications with citation information to barclayp@lafayette.edu and specify how you would like your name to appear in the contributor field.
Description of the material object captured by the digital image.
Publisher, printer, or distributor of postcards, albums, or commercial prints.
Photographers, painters, and editors associated with original images or sources.
Dimensions of source document (pages, postcards, prints).
The date range of the source document (the material object on the scanner).
The date range of the photograph or event itself, later reproduced in an album or as a postcard.
It is difficult to isolate the precise date of publication for a postcard. However, formats dictated by postal regulations, cancellation marks, or written matter often provide upper or lower limits. For example, a “January 15, 1926” cancellation mark on a “1/3 divided back” postcard was published before 1926-01-16 but must have been published after 1907-03-28 (March 28, 1907). Therefore, this range is given in the Date field. Limits are assigned to the images themselves (not the artifacts) when external evidence is available, as noted in the Associated Date(s) field.
Record [lw0081] (The eighty-first record in the Michael Lewis Collection).
March 1, 1918 to February 14, 1933
January 1, 1915 to January 31, 1915
This postcard was published between March 1st, 1918 and February 14th, 1933. The photograph reproduced on the postcard was shot in January of 1915.
If you have information about an image in this collection, either to identify its contents, report a sighting or citing in another printed version, or to suggest a revision to an entry, please consider collaborating on this project. Communications in Chinese, Japanese, or English are welcome. Send to General Editor Paul D. Barclay at barclayp@lafayette.edu. Please include your name, email address, title/position, and an image # or image numbers to identify the images to which you refer. The editor will do his best to verify as much of the submitted information as possible, realizing that many contributors will far exceed him in expertise and authority.
East Asia Image Collection. Easton, PA: Lafayette College, 2012. https://ldr.lafayette.edu/collections/east-asia-image-collection ([Date Accessed]), image [image #].
East Asia Image Collection, (Easton, PA: Lafayette College, 2012), https://ldr.lafayette.edu/collections/east-asia-image-collection ([Date Accessed]), image [image #].