Definition of categories and sub-categories
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Structures |
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Artifacts originally created to define space for human activities or to be used as components of space-defining artifacts. |
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Building |
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An artifact originally created primarily to provide or define a space with a controllable climate, usually through enclosure, for human activities. This sub-category may include permanent structures, such as garages or office buildings, or portable structures, such as tents. It includes most human-made structures. Houses, barns, warehouses, train stations, and jails are all primarily intended to provide spaces that can be kept warm or cool and dry. Architectural samples integral to buildings, such as wall sections or roof sections, should be catalogued in this sub-category as parts of buildings. Separable, distinct, and interchangeable components, such as doorknobs or window sashes, should be classified as "Building Components". |
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Building Component |
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An artifact originally created as a separate, distinct, and generally interchangeable structural or decorative part of a building (though such artifacts as hinges, for example, can be used on non-building artifacts such as gates or tables). Though building components are distinct objects, they function as parts of larger structures rather than as independent units. This sub-category includes such objects as mantels and window frames, but excludes parts of buildings or other structures that lack distinctiveness or interchangeability, such as roofs, chimneys, or joists. Also excluded from this sub-category are parts of buildings that are not integral parts of a structure, such as furnishings, lighting devices, and plumbing fixtures, all of which are listed in the "Furnishings" category. |
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Site Feature |
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An artifact originally created as a distinct element that is associated with a site, a building, or other structure. Rather than functioning simply as a part of a larger structure, a site feature is an independent entity that complements other structures. This sub-category includes such objects as birdbaths, flagpoles, gates, and fences. |
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Other Structure |
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An artifact originally created primarily to modify the environment or landscape or to define a space for some reason besides climate control. This sub-category includes dams, mines, and bridges. Structures such as sports complexes that are primarily intended to provide controlled access and convenient seating should be placed in this sub-category. Some other structures may have climate-controlled spaces, such as the space under a dome in a stadium or the generating room of a hydro-electric dam, but these spaces serve a secondary role to the function of the structures. |
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Furnishings |
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Artifacts originally created to facilitate human activity and to meet physical needs of people generally by offering comfort, convenience, or protection. Clothing is excluded from this category as it addresses only the needs of specific individuals. Furnishings are not artifacts used as active agents in other processes such as tools or equipment; they passively enable human activity. |
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Bedding |
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An artifact originally created to be used on a bed or in association with sleeping, such as blankets, pillows, and sleeping bags. |
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Floor Covering |
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An artifact originally created as a portable or temporary covering for a building floor. This sub-category includes rugs and carpeting, but not permanently attached tile or linoleum, which are included in the "Building Component" sub-category. |
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Furniture |
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An artifact originally created to answer the physical requirements and comforts of people in their living and work spaces. This sub-category includes outdoor furniture, desks, tables, beds, and chairs, but excludes appliances or tools such as washing machines or ladders. |
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Household Accessory |
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An artifact originally created to be placed in or around a building for the convenience of people to enhance, complement, or facilitate the maintenance of their environment. This sub-category includes small furnishings such as soap dishes and spittoons, special household containers such as vases and wastebaskets, and objects such as antimacassars and table covers that protect furniture. The sub-category does not include artifacts with a communication aspect, which are classified as "Decorative Art" or "Original Art" in "Communication Artifacts", nor does it include devices used in productive housekeeping activities such as cooking or maintenance. |
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Lighting Device |
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An artifact originally created to provide illumination. This sub-category includes lighting accessories such as candlesnuffers or wick trimmers, general-purpose portable lighting devices such as kerosene lanterns, and specialized fixtures such as streetlamps, theatre lighting devices, and lighthouse lamp accessories. |
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Plumbing Fixture |
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An artifact originally created to be attached as an integral component to water and sewer lines, often within a building, such as bathtubs and faucets. Portable objects that serve comparable purposes are "Household Accessories". Pipes and pipe fittings are classified as "Building Components", not "Plumbing Fixtures". |
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Temperature Control Device |
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An artifact originally created to enable people to control the temperature of their immediate environment according to their needs. This sub-category includes stoves, woodbins, and ember carriers. It does not include devices to control temperature for purposes other than human comfort, as is the case with bake ovens and kilns, nor does it include relatively permanent structural parts of a building, such as fireplaces or flues. |
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Window or Door Covering |
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An artifact originally created to cover or adorn a window, door, or doorway. This sub-category includes curtains, valances, and curtain rings. It does not include relatively permanent structural parts of buildings that are "Building Components," such as doors or window sashes. |
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Personal Artifacts |
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Artifacts originally created to serve an individual's personal needs such as clothing, adornment, body protection, or grooming aids. |
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Adornment |
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An artifact originally created to be worn on the human body or on clothing for ornamentation, rather than for protection or simply as a body covering. This sub-category includes rings, necklaces, and pendants. Adornment lacks the communicative aspect of objects in the "Personal Symbol" sub-category, and is more decorative than those in the "Personal Gear" sub-category. |
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Clothing, Footwear |
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An artifact originally created as clothing and other protective items to be worn on the feet for protection or cover. This sub-category includes boots, stockings, and gaiters. |
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Clothing, Headwear |
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An artifact originally created as clothing that protects or covers the head. This sub-category includes bonnets, tricorn hats, and turbans. |
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Clothing, Outerwear |
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An artifact originally created as clothing to be worn on the body over undergarments or as an exterior layer of dress. This sub-category includes coats, overcoats, and dresses. |
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Clothing, Underwear |
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An artifact originally created as clothing to be worn beneath outerwear to protect or cover the body. Underwear is the layer of clothing that is closest to the skin. This sub-category includes petticoats and corsets. |
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Clothing Accessory |
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An artifact, such as a belt or cuff link, created originally to be used in association with clothing. Accessories include artifacts that are worn, such as ascots, as well as those that are used for minor care of clothing, such as shoe-polish applicators. |
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Personal Gear |
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An artifact originally created to be used by an individual as a carrying device such as a wallet or a knapsack, as a protective apparatus such as an umbrella or goggles, as a personal or physical aid such as a cane or eyeglasses, or as personal smoking equipment and supplies such as a pipe. This sub-category includes military accoutrements such as canteens and pouches used as personal accessories not directly associated with armament. |
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Toilet Article |
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An artifact originally created to be used for personal care, hygiene, or grooming. This sub-category includes razors, toothbrushes, and cosmetics. |
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Tools & Equipment for Materials |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to manage, oversee, capture, harvest, or collect resources and to transform or modify particular materials, both raw and processed. These artifacts are normally created in response to problems inherent in the materials themselves. Wood requires certain kinds of cutting devices, fish require certain lures, food requires certain serving utensils. |
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Agricultural T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for farming or gardening. This sub-category includes implements used in planting, tending, harvesting, and storing crops and in processing food for animals but not food for humans (see "Food Processing T&E"). This sub-category does not include tools and equipment used in caring for animals (see "Animal Husbandry T&E"), working with forest products (see "Forestry T&E"), or in preparing fibres for textiles from agricultural products (see "Textileworking T&E"). Tools and equipment used in tobacco harvesting are found in this sub-category. |
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Animal Husbandry T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for the care, breeding, and study of animals. This sub-category includes instruments used in the practice of veterinary medicine, in the psychological study of animals, and in the care of animals, such as the tools a farrier uses to shoe animals. It includes hoof chisels, hobbles, and muzzles. This sub-category excludes equipment used in processing animal products for human use (see "Food Processing T&E" or "Leather, Horn & Shellworking T&E"). Also excluded are the tools of trades related to animal husbandry; these tools are not used directly with animals, such as a farrier's metalworking tools. |
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Basket, Broom, Brush Making T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies for fabricating objects out of fibrous materials that are generally coarser than those used for textiles. This sub-category includes tools used for basket making, broom making, brush making, and thatching. |
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Cigar Making T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies for fabricating non-food products for human consumption out of tobacco and related vegetable products. This sub-category includes tools for handling harvested tobacco and manufacturing tobacco products. Smoking accessories and supplies are under "Personal Gear". |
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Fishing & Trapping T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for capturing aquatic and terrestrial animals by any means other than weaponry, such as nets, traps, and fishhooks. |
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Food Processing T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for processing, storing, and preparing food or beverages for human consumption. This sub-category includes measuring cups, appliances such as refrigerators and food processing equipment such as churns. It does not include tools for gathering, producing, or managing food materials. |
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Food Service T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for the service, presentation, or consumption of food or beverages by humans, such as saucers, cups, and silent butlers. |
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Forestry T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for cutting, handling, or processing timber or for harvesting forest crops such as bark, sap, gum, resin, or rubber. This sub-category includes bark shredders, and felling axes. It does not include equipment for cartage, which is classified under "Transportation Artifacts", or for manufacturing products from wood, which is classified under "Woodworking T&E" or "Papermaking T&E". |
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Glass, Plastics, Clay & Waxworking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for fabricating objects from homogenous complex compounds, such as glass, clay, rubber, synthetic resins, plastics, or waxes. This sub-category also includes the tools, equipment, and supplies used for producing such homogenous complex compounds. These compounds differ from other materials because they generally require elaborate processing at some point during their use. As compounds, they differ from other processed materials, such as leather, because they are not discrete units: they differ from aggregate materials, such as masonry, because of their homogeneity and their need for elaborate processing. This sub-category includes candle moulds and glazier points. |
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Jewellery T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for fabricating jewellery. This sub-category excludes tools and equipment for working with precious stones, which are included in the "Lapidary T&E" sub-category. |
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Lapidary T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies for fabricating objects out of crystalline materials, primarily precious and semi-precious stones. This sub-category includes jeweller's gem-cutting tools, but excludes tools that are used in jewellery manufacture but that are for working non-crystalline materials such as metal, wood, or plastic, which are classified under "Jewellery T&E". |
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Leather, Horn & Shellworking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for processing materials that are animal in origin. This classification includes tools and equipment for processing furs or hides, for preparing leather, for fabricating leather products, for working shell, horn, bone and ivory, and tools for making things from quills or feathers. This sub-category also includes artifacts for processing materials that are the products of insects and bacteria. It includes beaming knives, awls, and harness maker's benches. |
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Masonry & Stoneworking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for working with natural stone or with aggregate materials such as concrete, mortar, brick, or plaster. These aggregate materials can be of natural or manufactured origin. They differ from materials related to "Glass, Plastics, Clay & Waxworking T&E" because they lack the homogeneity and the need for complex processing of those materials. This sub-category includes bushhammers, zaxes and trowels. It excludes tools and equipment for working with precious or semi-precious stones, which are included in the "Lapidary T&E" sub-category. |
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Metalworking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for casting, forging, machining, or fabricating metals or metal products. This sub-category includes anvils, sheet metalworker's snips and vises. It does not include tools, equipment, and supplies used in mining or preliminary ore processing which are classified under "Mining & Mineral Harvesting T&E", or tools and equipment used for making jewellery out of metals, included in the "Jewellery T&E" sub-category. |
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Mining & Mineral Harvesting T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for extracting materials in solid, liquid, or gaseous state from the natural environment. This sub-category includes equipment used for underground and surface mines, quarries, and oil and water wells, for prospecting, and for supplemental processing operations such as breaking, milling, washing, cleaning, or grading. It also includes tools used for ice and salt harvesting. This sub-category includes ice saws, spoons, and double-pointed picks. |
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Painting T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for working with materials that mask large surfaces by depositing a residual film, such as a paint film, or by using adhesives to attach a thin covering, such as wallpaper or gold leaf, to a surface. This sub-category includes tools, equipment, and supplies used in decorative, artistic, and protective applications, such as putty knives, palettes, and brushes. Excluded are tools and equipment that are used with thicker coatings, such as wood veneers or plastic laminates, and tools and equipment used for metal plating. Also excluded are tools and equipment, such as ink knives and silk screens, associated with printing processes. |
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Papermaking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for manufacturing materials formed from the residue of suspensions or fabricating products made of such materials. Paper, whether made from wood pulp, textile fibres, or plastic fibres, is the principal product that falls in this sub-category. Particles mixed with liquids form suspensions. Though felt is made of materials that are matted like paper, tools and felting fall under "Textileworking T&E" because felt is not formed from a suspension. |
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Soapmaking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies, such as a potash caldron or soap stick, used in manufacturing soap from hardwood ash residue. |
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Textileworking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for preparing materials made from fibres and preparing woven fabrics, such as sewing needles, embroidery scissors, reels, and spools. Also included in this sub-category are tools, equipment, and supplies used for manufacturing objects from fibres or cloth. This sub-category includes tools, such as hatchels and cotton gins, specific to fibre preparation, but excludes tools, such as sheep shears and cotton balers, that are related to fibre sources. |
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Watchmaking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for fabricating clocks and watches. This sub-category does not include watches and clocks themselves; they are included in the "Timekeeping T&E" sub-category. |
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Wigmaking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies used in fabricating wigs and hair pieces from fibres. This sub-category includes tools for preparing and arranging fibres and for sewing wigs, and special tools for finishing wigs. Excluded are tools that might be generally used for grooming, such as combs and brushes, unless they are specifically designed for wigmaking. |
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Woodworking T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for fabricating objects from wood. This sub-category includes artifacts used with and to create physically modified wood by-products such as plywood, chipboard, and masonite. Included are clamps, felloe saws, and planes. This sub-category excludes tools and equipment for making objects out of chemically modified wood by-products such as paper, rayon, and rubber. |
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Tools & Equipment for Science & Technology |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies used to observe natural phenomena or to apply knowledge gained from such observation. Tools in this category tend to be made to enlarge or record our understanding of the world or to help express such understanding. Sub-categories in this category are related by virtue of the fact that they contain artifacts created to employ a particular body of knowledge. "Astronomical T&E" covers tools used to examine distant phenomena. "Timekeeping T&E" covers things that people have developed to measure time. "Maintenance T&E" covers tools developed in response to a body of knowledge about how to take care of things. Objects listed in sub-categories referring to armaments are used for hunting, target shooting, warfare, or self-protection. These sub-categories are based on knowledge rather than on materials. |
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Acoustical T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for studying sound and its effect upon hearing. This sub-category includes tuning forks and sound-level meters. Artifacts in "Acoustical T&E" differ from those in "Sound Communication Equipment" in that the function of the former is to study sound, not to transmit or receive it. They differ from some related items in "Medical and Psychological T&E" in that the function of items in "Acoustical T&E" is to examine the nature and effects of sound, not to diagnose or treat medical situations. |
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Armament T&E, Firearm |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to be used as projectile-firing weapons than can be easily deployed by one person. This sub-category includes rifles, guns and grenade launchers. It excludes ammunition, firearm accessories, and crew-served heavy armament. |
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Armament T&E, Edged |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to be used as armament intended to cut or pierce by cutting. It includes edged weapons such as bayonets that are accessories to firearms and tools such as crossbows that launch edged weapons. This sub-category includes daggers, halberds, and tomahawks. |
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Armament T&E, Bludgeon |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to be used as armament designed to batter or crush by weight or momentum. It also includes arms such as sling-shots that propel missiles that are neither explosive nor penetrating. It also includes blackjacks and clubs. |
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Armament T&E, Artillery |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to be used as heavy weapons that employ combustion or explosion to fire a projectile. Artillery may be portable and it may be employed by only one person, but typically it is fired by a crew from a more or less stationary position. This sub-category includes cannons and carronades. |
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Armament T&E, Ammunition |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to be used as ammunition for armament whether intended for particular weapons, such as BBs or cartridges, or intended to be deployed alone, such as missiles or bombs. This sub-category includes grenades and cannonballs. |
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Armament T&E, Body Armour |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to be used as clothing worn as defensive armament. It includes the formal parts of a "suit of armour" and protective devices used in combat. |
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Armament T&E, Accessory |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to serve as accessories used for hunting, target shooting, warfare, or self-protection. This sub-category includes arms and artillery accessories and personal accoutrements, such as cartridge belts, cartridge boxes, and sword belts, associated with armament. It includes detonators, scabbards, gun covers and game bags. |
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Astronomical T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to observe, measure, and document objects and events outside the Earth's atmosphere. It includes astrolabes and telescopes. Artifacts within "Astronomical T&E" differ from those within "Optical T&E" in that the former are not intended to address particular problems associated with vision. And they differ from those under "Surveying & Navigational T&E" in that they are concerned with observation rather than with practical uses for such observation. |
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Biological T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to observe, measure, and document physiological or anatomical aspects of organisms for purposes other than diagnosis or treatment. This sub-category includes clinometers and potometers. Tools for diagnosing and treating people are classified under "Medical & Psychological T&E"; those for animals are under "Animal Husbandry T&E". |
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Chemical T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for studying or manufacturing substances based upon their molecular composition, structure, and properties. This sub-category includes stills and test tubes. The study of atomic and subatomic particles is classified under "Nuclear Physics T&E"; study of the interaction of physical objects, under "Mechanical T&E". |
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Construction T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for moving earth and building structures. This sub-category includes paving machines and equipment that modifies by demolition, such as wrecking balls and jackhammers. It also includes tools, such as pile drivers, used for constructing highways and structural facilities. It does not include specialized tools, such as hammers or cement mixers, listed in other sub-categories and used in the construction industries. |
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Electrical & Magnetic T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to observe, measure, and document electrical and magnetic phenomena. This sub-category also includes tools, equipment, and components, such as electrician's pliers or oscilloscopes, used in the manufacture, installation, and repair of electrical and electronic devices. It includes ammeters, rheostats and fuseboards. It does not include electrical or electronic devices created to serve other specific purposes, such as sound communication or data processing, nor does it include electrical motors or generators, classified under "Energy Production T&E". |
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Energy Production T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to generate, convert, or distribute energy or power. This sub-category includes switches and generators. |
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Geological T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to observe, measure, and document geological phenomena. This sub-category includes geologists' picks and seismic measuring devices, but excludes tools used for harvesting or mining rock or mineral materials. |
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Maintenance T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for cleaning or laundering activities, whether carried on in homes or public buildings, whether performed privately or professionally. This sub-category includes specialized tools used for restoring and conserving objects. It includes brooms, soap and clothes irons. |
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Mechanical T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for the study, measurement, or utilization of the static and dynamic properties of solids, liquids, and gases. This sub-category includes general-purpose mechanical devices, such as wedges and hoists, and specialized devices, such as tensiometers and pressure gauges, used to measure mechanical properties. It also includes nuts, levers and winches. |
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Medical & Psychological T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created for examining, testing, diagnosing, and treating humans. This sub-category includes dental tools, objects used for testing sight and hearing, and objects used for psychological testing or treatment. It includes splints, forceps, and syringes. It does not include objects used to study physical phenomena, classified under "Optical T&E", "Acoustical T&E", "Biological T&E", and "Chemical T&E", or tools for veterinary medicine, classified under "Animal Husbandry T&E". |
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Merchandising T&E |
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Tools, equipment, and supplies originally created to facilitate or enable the exchange of goods or services. This sub-category includes artifacts used to present goods, such as counters, as well as specific product packages. It also includes barrels, capsules and demijohns. General product packages that are primarily intended for transporting goods rather than for marketing them fall within "Containers" in the "Distribution & Transportation Artifacts" category. |
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Meteorological T&E |
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