"Only Connect": Linking Up Data in the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts

Abstract:Using a recent placement at the University of Pennsylvania as its basis, this Annotation explains the processes used to create and edit Name Authorities in the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts of a particular, underrepresented group within the database: women. The data available at present in the SDBM is skewed towards male collectors and dealers, in part due to the biases implicit in the sources used to create manuscript entries and Name Authorities. Therefore, it is necessary to work on specific highlighted groups such as women in order to combat these biases.The essay will then move to discuss the process of creating and editing Wikidata entries for these women so that the two entries, the SDBM one and the Wikidata one, can be linked. It also argues that given the information about the candidates was usually already digitally present in some way, the data is in essence out there somewhere, it simply needs to be pulled together. In doing so, this paper highlights the importance of linked data and invites further targeted action to be taken for other similarly marginalised groups in the database in addition to women.