Help with browsing the collection

Use eMuseum to search and view catalogue information, descriptions and images of objects from the Southwark Collections database.

Home |  Highlights |  Browse |  Display Options |  Navigation |  Related Records

Home Page

Use the options in the left navigation menu bar to begin browsing the collection:
  • Type a word under 'quick search' and click to run a general search. eMuseum will search for instances of your search word in the title, description, medium, etc. of works in the collection.


  • Click the Highlights button to browse highlighted groups of objects


  • Click the Browse button to search for specific works, using a variety of criteria such as name, country, date, etc.
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Highlights Page

Collections highlights pages show highlighted groups of objects from the three Southwark collections. These groups are pre-selected to illustrate themes, to highlight interesting aspects of the collection, including objects on display in previous exhibitions held at the Cuming Museum.

Click the "Highlights" option in the left navigation bar to open a list of available collections. Then click on a specific name to see the group of objects.


Browsing the collection


Simple Search

To do a simple search, enter a term in the box and click .

eMuseum will find objects in the collection that have your term in the title, medium, description, names of related people, etc.

Select people   above the term box if you are interested in finding people related to the collection rather than the objects themselves. eMuseum will search for instances of your search term in the name, biography, nationality, etc. of people related to works in the collection.

Advanced Search for Objects and People

To do a more specific search for objects or people related to the collections click the Advanced Search link. The advanced search for people will give you biographies and other information about famous Southwark residents, artists who have contributed to the Southwark Art collection and people connected with objects in the Cuming collection.

You may choose from the following fields:

  • Classification - for searching the Cuming collection only. If you choose 'is' you can access a list of the groups the Cuming objects are arranged into. For example 'shoes' or 'hats' will come under the Costume classification.
  • Culture - helpful for locating worldwide and ancient objects in the Cuming collection. Culture includes terms such as 'Zulu', 'Ancient Egypt' and 'Maori'.
  • Department - allows you to limit your search to one or the main collections: Cuming, Local History Library or Southwark Art Collection.
  • Description - useful for the wildest possible search results. For example, a search for the word 'lace' will access all the objects and images that are made from, include or feature lace. You can widen your search by selecting the Thesaurus tick box.
  • Geographical terms - if you choose 'is' you will access a list of the countries and regions that are connected with the objects on the database. You can widen your search by selecting the Thesaurus tick box. This will connect your search with many other related place names and main regions.
  • Medium - use this field if you want to search for objects made from a type of material, such as 'ivory' or 'bronze'.
  • Number - use this field if you know the identification number for an object, picture or work of art.
  • People - for objects and images connected with a famous person or a work of art by a specific artist.
  • People nationality - as above but also searches by the person's nationality.
  • Period - to search by time periods such as 'Tudor', 'Victorian' or 'Bronze Age'.
  • Subjects - this field is available for the Local History Library and Southwark Art collection records. You can access the drop down list of related subjects by choosing 'is'.
  • Title - this field is available for the Local History Library and Southwark Art collection records. If you only know part of the title, choose 'contains' and select the Thesaurus tick box.

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Display Options

After opening a collection or running a search, you can view results in various ways:
  • Lightbox viewSmall images with a simple caption
  • List viewList with images
  • Single viewFull details about a specific record

Navigation

The title of each result page gives you a context for the group of records you are viewing:
  • Collection:
    Specifies that you opened select a collection from the left menu; the name of the selected collection displays in the title.
  • Object Search:
    Specifies that you ran a search for objects; your search criterion displays in the title.
  • People Search:
    Specifies that you are viewing results from a people search; your search criterion displays in the title; you may have opened this page by running a specific search or by clicking a name in an object page.
  • See Also:
    Specifies that you clicked a link in a page to view related records; see below for more details.
In the upper right corner of every result page, eMuseum displays the total number of records in the result set, and specifies which records are displayed on the current page. For example, you may see 'Results 7 to 12 of 54' when you are on the second page of a set of 54 records.

On the line below, you have options for moving through the record set. Click the Previous or Next buttons to move forward or backward one page at a time. Click -10 or +10 to move forward by ten pages at a time. Or to select a particular page, click on its number (page 1 is highlighted in the example below).

navigation example
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Related Records

On the detail page for specific records (Single view), eMuseum may present you with links to related information. Click these links to begin wandering through the collection, following paths that interest you.


The right vertical bar of each detail page contains a See Also... panel with images of related objects, if there are any. This bar is designed to help you easily find other objects of interest to you. Click an image to open the detail page for that object.

Some names and terms within the detail page may also be hyperlinked. For example:
  • Click a person's name in the object detail page to open a page of biographical information.