Describing Entities and Identities: The Development and Structure of Encoded Archival Context—Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families

Abstract

In January 2011, the Society of American Archivists fully endorsed the standard Encoded Archival Context-Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF). This article details the development of the standard, from its conceptual beginnings in 1998 to its dissemination and adoption in 2011. It provides an overview of the general structure of EAC-CPF and discusses variables that were considered important in the design of the standard. It concludes with a reflection on the strength of international participation in the development and review of the standard in order to ensure that EAC-CPF would be applicable across many different boundaries.

KEYWORDS:

• archival description
• contextual metadata
• Encoded Archival Context—Corporate Bodies
• Persons and Families
• standards development

Notes

1. Documents from the Contextual Information Initiative can be retrieved from http://www.library.yale.edu/eac/goalsandworkplandraft.htm [Viewed September 25, 2011].