This document describes the controlled vocabulary and best practices for tagging resources in and related to the North Carolina History Digital Textbook.
General notes:
The following list is canonical but not exclusive; topics should be tagged at the discretion of the cataloguer. Tags used frequently should be added to this list.
Only the following historical eras should be tagged. As a rule, any source or document pertaining to or stemming from these time periods may be tagged with the name of the era.
Pervasive events are events during which it assumed that all sources, articles, etc. pertain in some way to the event. That is, the event so pervades the historical period in which it occurs that nearly anything that occurred during that period may be considered relevant to it, and the name of the event is commonly used to refer to the era during which the event occurred.
Unlike eras and pervasive events, event names should be tagged only when the article or source pertains directly to the event. Note that some events occurred over a long and potentially ill-defined time period.
These topics should be tagged when they are discussed either in historical context or in an interdisciplinary manner.
Avoid using art history unless the article addresses the history of art (rather than the role of art in history). Tags such as fine art and photography should not be used on a page that merely contains paintings or photographs as illustrative material, but only if the page content discusses those types of art in history.
Use these tags only to describe the type of literature provided by a primary source or for articles that discuss this type of literature in detail.
Use these tags only if the source or article addresses its topic from a scientific perspective or if the article explicitly discusses the history of the field. So, for example, William Byrd’s writings about alligators should not be tagged with ecology. A primary source about canals probably should not be tagged with engineering, though it may be tagged with technology (q.v.) if it describes the technology used, and the tag engineering may be applied to a highly technical explanation or diagram suitable to civil-engineering study.
Do not tag with science unless the material is very general (e.g. an article on the history of science, broadly).
See also topics (e.g. medicine) under Historical strands and social science topics, q.v.
Tag names of individual people when the article or source is about them but not if it only mentions them. (Tagging is not indexing; a fulltext search will find all names mentioned.)
Tag only when the article or source devotes considerable attention to matters specific to this group of people. In particular, it will not be useful to tag all (pre-1900) articles about war and politics with men.
See Religions and Ideas, q.v.
Tag names of a town or county when the article or source is about that place or is relevant to the history of that place, but not if the place is only mentioned in passing. (Tagging is not indexing; a fulltext search will find all names mentioned.)
For example, an article about the history of Rock Springs Camp Ground in Denver should be tagged with Lincoln County, because someone interested in the history of Lincoln County would want to find that page.
Changes in county boundaries. When tagging sources and articles relevant to eras before the mid-twentieth century, be aware that county boundaries may not be where they are today! If an event occurred in one county but the location of that event is today in another county, an article or source about the event should be tagged with the names of both counties. If the original county no longer exists or has been renamed, the archaic name should be tagged along with the present one if the cataloguer is able to locate it reliably.
Ideas and institutions vs. adherents. As a rule, tag with the name of the religion or church rather than the name given to its adherents unless an informal name is most commonly used (e.g. Quakers, Mormons). If the article or source is about the people rather than about the religion or church, tag with the name given to adherents (e.g. Lutherans not Lutheran Church). These variants should not be considered interchangeable. However, avoid using terms such as evangelicals or communists if the name of the idea belief system (evangelicalism, communism) can be used.
Tag with the name of the party if the party as an institution is discussed; otherwise, use the name of the group.