Documenting Your Collections
Info-Muse Network Documentation Guide

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Date Collected (Collection)

Definition:

Observations:

1. For biological sciences: the date on which the specimen was harvested, captured or sampled or the start date of collection.
2. For Earth sciences: the date on which the specimen was collected or discovered.
3. N.B.: Do not confuse the Date Collected field with the Accession Date field. The Date Collected field corresponds to the date on which the specimen was taken from its original environment, whereas the Accession Date field corresponds to the date on which the specimen legally entered your institution.
4. This field is used in conjunction with the Collector and Collector Number fields.
   Example

   An American kestrel captured on August 23, 1934 by Arnie Pederson

   	Discipline	ornithology
   	Genus	Falco
   	Species	sparverius
   	Collecting Method	captured
   	Collector	Pederson, Arnie
   	Collector Number	0429
   	Date Collected	1934-08-23

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

   	Date Collected	1957-03-26

2. If only the year of collection is known, enter it in the form YYYY (Y for "year").
   Example

   	Date Collected	1999

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

   	Date Collected	1895-08-29 ?

4. Use the abbreviation "c" (for circa) when the date is within a period of five years before or five years after the date shown. Enter the date followed by a space and "c".
   Example

   	Date Collected	1968 c

5. Use the abbreviation "P" (for "prior to") if the date collected is at the latest on the date shown, or earlier. Enter the date followed by a space and "P".
   Example

   	Date Collected	1905 P

6. Use the abbreviation "L" (for "later than") if the date collected is at the earliest on the date shown, or later. Enter the date followed by a space and "L".
   Example

   	Date Collected	1921-07 L

7. If you are unable to determine the date despite thorough research in your files, enter "unknown".
   Example

   An onyx specimen is in your collection, but you do not know how and by whom it was collected.

   	Discipline	mineralogy
   	Species	calcite
   	Variety	onyx
   	Collecting Method	unknown
   	Collector	unknown
   	Date Collected	unknown

8. This field may not contain more than one entry.