Documenting Your Collections
Info-Muse Network Documentation Guide

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Current Condition Date (Physical Description)

Definition:

Observation:

• This field is used in conjunction with the Current Condition field.
  Example

  An object assessed on July 14, 1992 and declared to be in excellent condition

  	Current Condition	excellent
  	Current Condition Date	1992-07-14

Entry rules:

1. Enter the date in the form YYYY dash MM dash DD, in numbers only (Y for "year," M for "month," D for "day").
   Example

   	Current Condition	good
   	Current Condition Date	1992-04-09

2. This field may contain multiple entries separated by a semicolon followed by a space. To keep an audit trail of the condition of the object, each entry in the Current Condition Date field should correspond to an entry in the Current Condition field.
   Example

   A drawing, assessed on May 23, 1981, was declared to be in excellent condition. A new assessment on March 26, 1990 showed that it had deteriorated considerably.

   	Object Name	drawing
   	Current Condition	poor; excellent
   	Current Condition Date	1990-03-26; 1981-05-23

3. If the Current Condition field is blank, the Current Condition Date field should also remain blank.
4. If you have undated assessments in your files, enter the most recent possible assessment date, followed by a space and the abbreviation "P" for "prior to."
   Example

   The documentation record indicates that the object is in poor condition, but is undated. You know that no one has added information to the record since the end of 1991.

   	Current Condition	poor
   	Current Condition Date	1991-12-31 P

5. If you are unsure whether your information is correct, include a space and a question mark after the date.
   Example

   An object, probably assessed on September 23, 1979, was declared to be in poor condition.

   	Current Condition	poor
   	Current Condition Date	1979-09-23 ?