Understanding the World of the Scribe: Challenges and Opportunities of Cataloguing the Kerr Photographic Collection of Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A Celebration and Critical Assessment of "The Maya Scribe and His World" on its Fiftieth Anniversary" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The majority of photographs in “The Maya Scribe and His World” were taken by Justin Kerr. Kerr’s development of rollout photography transformed the field, allowing Maya ceramics to be documented and studied more easily. With the creation of the searchable online database Mayavase.com, Kerr made his substantial photographic corpus of objects in public and private collections accessible through the internet. The technology and availability of the images significantly advanced our understanding of the texts and scenes displayed in Maya art. In 2013, Justin Kerr donated his photographic collection to Dumbarton Oaks. Building on his work at Mayavase.com, we are working to create a digital catalogue of the material that will serve both specialist and non-specialist users. One of the challenges in making the images searchable through a digital infrastructure is the heterogeneous vocabulary used to describe Maya art over time. Many of the terms in the Grolier catalogue and other publications are based on European concepts and were coined before the relevant Maya texts could be read. In the spirit of the SAA’s ethical principles of Stewardship, Accountability, Education, and Outreach, we aim to develop new terminological standards based on hieroglyphic readings that are respectful toward descendant communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Celebration and Critical Assessment of "The Maya Scribe and His World" on its Fiftieth Anniversary   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36421.0