NorthStar Arts and Sciences

The Very Basics of Good Documentation

or

What is Documentation, Anyway?!?

(By: Mistress Guenievre du Dragon Vert)

  1. What is Documentation and Why do we need it?
    1. Documentation in the SCA serves one main purpose: to help the judges at Arts & Science Faires understand that you know what you’re doing. Good documentation tells the judge what your item is, how you made it, and why you made it that way. This could be absolutely crucial if your judge does not have experience or knowledge of the craft they are judging (it happens!).
  2. The Basics of Good Documentation
    1. Describe or Define your entry.
      1. What is it? Be specific! [A belt. A tablet-woven belt. A tablet-woven belt from the 10th century. A tablet-woven belt from the 10th century, England, for a woman, using silk thread. See the difference?]
    2. Tell them how it was done in Period (if you can, or at least offer educated hypotheses).
      1. Describe how your entry was (most likely) constructed in period. This is where quoting sources comes in handy. ["As Janet Arnold points out in QE’s Wardrobe Unlock’d1, they would have used the X construction method..."]
      2. Sources! How good are your sources?
        1. Primary: You actually saw it, breathed on it, maybe even got to examine an actual period artifact. [Wow…Cool…But not likely…]
        2. Secondary: Someone else got to see, breathe on, or examine an actual period artifact. They wrote about it, took pictures, made drawings, etc. Exceptions: certain scholars are so well reputed that they are considered Primary Sources – i.e. Janet Arnold for late period costuming, etc. Photographs of paintings or actual artifacts, if clear, are usually acceptable as secondary and sometimes even primary sources for general purposes.
        3. Tertiary: Someone’s interpretation of someone else’s description or drawing (third-hand info).
      3. Sources.2 (More than just a bibliography!)
        1. Are your judges going to know whether your sources are Primary, Secondary or Tertiary? Probably not, unless you’re lucky. So, if you really want to ‘score big bonus points’, you should try to comment on the value of the source. ["This source is good for the patterning techniques per se, but the actual design of the pattern is questionable, as they refer to drawings by X artist, who did not actually create nor examine the original artifact."]
    3. Tell them how you made it.
      1. Describe your materials
      2. Describe your tools
      3. Describe or explain your construction methods
    4. Tell them why you did what you did (esp. if it differs from period).
      1. Explain why you used modern materials or methods. This could be as simple as "I can’t afford real gold bullion" or "I just couldn’t bring myself to hand-hem the whole ten yard train on the gown". Maybe the original ingredient for your illumination’s pigment is highly toxic. You might have found an acceptable, reasonable substitute – so tell them about it. Show them you know the difference!
  3. Presentation of documentation
    1. Too long vs. too short. You can’t win: you don’t need to write a Ph.D. Master Thesis, but do make it more than one page. Two or three pages with good pix is reasonable.
    2. Bring or send books and/or copies of pertinent pages, esp. photos, color copies if applicable. If you brought books, then mark with numbered post-its the appropriate page(s) and items on the page (esp. if there is more than one photo on the page)! The same goes for copies of your reference materials: number, circle, or somehow indicate that you want them to look at this buckle, not any of the other five on the page!
    3. Bring or send photos of the item in construction (if you thought of it in advance), or as worn (in stages, for costuming, wood construction, etc.), especially if you cannot bring the item in person.

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Last Updated: Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Published by: THL Gweniver Kenwyn of Roseveth (jenmcnitt@havenonline.com)