The words of the archive, from studio to collection.

Obscura Vault's archive format, taken from Obscura Flow: a tar container compressed with zstd, encrypted with AES-GCM if you wish, and signed with Ed25519. See The .obf format.

Temporary name of a copy in progress, before verification. Never an original.

The one that is authoritative for the record, printing and exports. Publishing and certifying require one in the photographer role.

A warning you have explicitly accepted; it stays in the validation report.

Lighter file derived from the master (JPEG, PNG, OCRed PDF) for online viewing or printing. In Memory Atlas, the "Access copy" role.

“A name, term, keyword, phrase or code that may be used to search, identify and locate an archival description.”

In Memory Atlas : Access points field (terms); linked authority records

Whether a document may be consulted. For French public records, it follows the time limits of the Heritage Code (art. L. 213-1 to L. 213-5); for private archives, the conditions set when they were received.

The act by which records enter an archives service (gift, deposit, purchase, bequest, transfer) and its registration (French usage; ISAD(G) 3.2.4 describes the “immediate source of acquisition or transfer”).

In Memory Atlas : Accession register

Records that are or will be added to a fonds already received (ISAD(G) 3.3.3).

Authenticated encryption: the AES algorithm (FIPS 197) used in Galois/Counter Mode (NIST SP 800-38D). It makes the content unreadable without the key and detects any change to the encrypted content.

In Obscura Vault : Optional encryption of an .obf archive

A person or an organisation the catalogue cites: artist, printer, gallery, museum, collector, auction house, conservator, rights holder… Its role is carried by each link (attribution, provenance, exhibition, rights). An agent still referenced cannot be deleted; a duplicate is merged. See Agents. Not to be confused with a person of the Faces section.

Two meanings. In the record, the critical commentary of the scholarly notice (Analysis, critical commentary). In the Faces section, the computation, on this Mac, of the objects, text, faces and likenesses in your photos; it never starts on its own. See Analysing the library.

Reading of one or more sources in five phases: file traversal, metadata, hashing, image analysis, similarity index. Modifies no file.

The written title of a unit, summing up its subject, action and dates (ISAD(G) 3.1.2, "Title").

An attribution without an agent: a state of knowledge, not missing data. Accepted in the photographer role, it allows publishing; “Anonymous” is also the wording printed for an Unknown certainty.

Separating, within a body of records, what is kept from what is destroyed, against defined criteria (evidential value, historical interest, duplicates).

Conservation box made of pure cellulose board with an alkaline reserve, which shields records from acidity and pollutants.

All documents, data included, whatever their date, form, medium and place of storage, created or received by a person or body, public or private, in the course of its activity (Heritage Code, art. L. 211-1). The word also names the service and the building that keep them. See What is an archive?

“The intellectual and physical processes and results of analysing and organizing documents in accordance with archival principles.”

In Memory Atlas : Structure and order of the tree; element 3.3.4

Intellectual organization of a fonds into series, sub-series and files, drawn up before physical arrangement. In Memory Atlas, it is the tree. See Building an arrangement scheme

Basic physical and intellectual unit of a fonds, identified by a reference code: usually a file or an item, stored in a container.

A nature of edition: the copies kept for the artist, numbered apart, “EA” in their number (…-P2-EA1/2).

In the record, the artist's project the work belongs to; distinct from the imported folder (which the code calls a project) and from the series.

Put a work in an exhibition, and take it out. In a CSV import, Attach to… links an unknown name to an existing agent.

The statement of who made a work, with a role (photographer, printer, assistant, retoucher, collaborator, press printer, publisher), a certainty, an argument and a proof. A work may carry several per role; only one is accepted.

The agent that holds an auction sale.

The provenance event that went under the hammer (box This event is an auction sale): auction house, sale title and date, lot, outcome, low and high estimates, hammer price, buyer's premium included and currency. One per event, as confidential as the event; its amounts only leave in sales.csv. See Adding or editing an event.

Standardized record describing a corporate body, a person or a family, used to control access points (ISAD(G) I.14, ISAAR(CPF) standard).

In Memory Atlas : Authorities destination

Durable reference to a folder you designated, which makes it possible to find it again without designating it again.

A dated, checked copy of the database, the attached documents, the certificates and the settings, in the library's Backups/ folder: automatic once a day, or File › Back Up Library. It is restored in Settings › Backup; your images are not in it. See Backing up and restoring the library.

An operation on several selected works at once: edit fields, attribute, add to an exhibition, cite in a publication, apply the series defaults. Each one shows what it will do before writing; the last one can be undone. See Batch editing.

Document created in digital form (email, word-processing file, digital photograph), with no paper original.

A unit and all its descendants. Moves, the Trash, validation and transfer apply to a branch.

Said of a hammer price that includes the buyer's premium.

Local database of Obscura Trace (catalog.sqlite). Contains everything except your photos.

The number by which a work is cited, assigned when it is created, never reissued, frozen on publication; it may carry a variant (suffix). Not to be confused with the inventory no.

The documented, as-complete-as-possible record of an artist's body of work: each work is described, attributed, and accompanied by its history.

In Obscura Catalog : Each work has a catalogue no. and a record; it is also one of the three reports. See The catalogue raisonné

The degree of an attribution: Certain, Attributed, Studio of, Disputed, Rejected, Unknown. A certain attribution is not spelled out in a report's record.

Two things. The number of a certificate issued by Catalog, <prefix>-CERT-<year>-<sequence> (SB-CERT-2026-00042), independent of the catalogue no. and never reused. And, on a print, the Certificate no. field: the number of a certificate issued outside Catalog.

A signed PDF/A attesting the authenticity of a work or a print, recorded in the register under a number never reused, with a status: Valid, Superseded or Revoked. Without a licence, Catalog issues up to 10 (counted by number: a re-issue does not count); a licence raises that limit according to the plan. See Certificates of authenticity.

A collapsed group at the foot of the record's Identification tab: what changed in the work, its prints and its attributions, field by field, before → after, with the date and the origin (Record, Reference image, Batch edit, Batch edit undone, Series defaults, CSV import, Agent merge, Print renumbering). The latest 300 changes of each work are kept, a long text as an (excerpt); price, holder, location and internal notes are noted “changed, value not kept”. Never exported. See The change history.

Result of a hash function applied to a file: the slightest change to the file gives a different checksum. Also called a hash or digest.

In Obscura Vault : Computed with SHA-256, it serves as the reference for later checks

Conceptual Reference Model: a conceptual model of cultural heritage information, standardized as ISO 21127 and maintained by the ICOM CIDOC committee. It describes objects, people, events, and their relationships.

In Obscura Catalog : Turtle export, with a licence: a nine-class profile, with nothing confidential and no amount

The mention of a work (or of one of its prints) in a publication, with pages, figure or plate. You cite a work in a publication and remove the citation.

Plan that distributes all the fonds of an archives service (for instance the series of French departmental archives, or series W for contemporary public records). Not to be confused with the arrangement scheme of one fonds.

A group of files put together by hand. A smart collection is recomputed from its criteria.

“An artificial assemblage of documents accumulated on the basis of some common characteristic without regard to the provenance of those documents.”

In Memory Atlas : “Collection” level, at the root like a fonds

What happens when a file with the same name exists at the destination: Comparer (Compare, the default), Ignorer (Skip), Renommer (Rename), Remplacer (Replace).

The colour put on a file (as in Lightroom), read from and written to its metadata; it filters the grid and smart collections. Not to be confused with a tag.

File that accompanies a main file, such as an XMP next to a RAW. Always travels with it.

A score from 0 to 100% measuring what a record contains: each criterion filled in (title, accepted attribution, date, technique and support, reference image, description, print, provenance, citation, exhibition, scholarly notice) brings its points, and the weights always add up to 100. Publishing requires the publication threshold. See Completeness.

Computed reference code: country code, repository code, segments of the ancestors, segment of the unit (FR-STX/PH/1/A/NEG).

A signing key that has leaked. Declaring it compromised (Settings › Certificates) stops it signing, removes it from the public key file and revokes every valid certificate it signed.

The correspondence between a work's catalogue no. and its former numbers; the catalogue raisonné report prints a Number concordance.

The state of preservation of a work without a print, or of each print: excellent, good, fair, poor, or not assessed, with a condition note. Condition observed — the one an intervention recorded or left; it does not change the current condition. Note: in the Identification tab and the works table, the Condition field is the work's existence (extant, lost…), not its state of preservation.

The examination of an object whose condition is recorded, without treatment; a kind of intervention, and a kind of document of the work.

Said of a work (Confidential record), a provenance event, a conservation intervention (Confidential) or a document that goes into no export, report or certificate, except a CSV export, a full export or a package's export that includes the confidential records, with a justification. An event is confidential by default, and always while a party is a living person; its auction sale follows it. An attached invoice is confidential by default; the proof of a confidential event and the document of a confidential intervention are, as long as the event or the intervention is. An agent marked Confidential is named in no LIDO or CIDOC export, report or certificate, in any role (see Confidential agents). See The confidentiality rule. Not to be confused with the internal note, which never leaves.

In Settings › Privacy, the list of every export that included the confidential records: date, format, justification, folder and contents. It follows the library into its backups and cannot be edited.

The record's tab holding the condition of the work or of its prints and the history of its care: the interventions. See Conservation.

The agent (a restorer, a studio, a laboratory) who carried out an intervention.

The contact print of a whole film or shoot on a single sheet. Scanned, it is usually a file with the Documentation role, linked to each of the works it shows: one file can document several works. If the artist considers it a work in its own right, it is catalogued as a work, with its own catalogue no.

Text from an ancestor (3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.4) shown read-only, without becoming the unit's value.

Principle whereby a move is first a verified copy; the source is removed only afterward.

A kind of document of the work: a letter, an exchange with the artist, a gallery, a collector. (A letter attached to a file keeps the kind Letter.)

The cost of a conservation intervention. It only leaves in a CSV that includes the confidential records, even for a public intervention, and is never printed.

Individual, family or corporate body that created or received and/or kept records in the course of its activities. Not to be confused with the collector or the author.

In Memory Atlas : Element 3.2.1: link to an authority record, inherited by descendants

Comma-Separated Values: a plain-text file of comma-separated values, described by RFC 4180, that every spreadsheet can read.

In Obscura Catalog : CSV export included without a licence (ten files), the only export, with the full export and the package for Vault, that can include confidential records; import of inventories of works, exhibitions and publications

The export of the catalogue as ten CSV files (works.csv, prints.csv, provenance.csv, sales.csv…), for a spreadsheet or another catalogue; included without a licence. With the full export and the package for Vault, it is the only export that can include the confidential records, with a justification. See CSV.

Bringing in an inventory of works, exhibitions or publications from a CSV file, in four steps: file, columns (mapping), preview, import. Nothing is written before Import; imported works count towards the plan limits. See Importing a CSV inventory.

The agent who holds a print today, with its location and its price: sensitive data, which goes into no export, report or certificate. The works table's last holder is derived from the provenance.

First age: documents in regular use, kept close to their creator.

A work's date as it prints (“c. 1974, perhaps 1975”): it is the one that is authoritative. The sort dates (ISO format) and the precision (day, month, year, circa, decade, range, unknown) only serve sorting, facets and completeness.

Transfer of works or documents to the French State in payment of inheritance or other taxes. The archives service then sets the access rules.

On a certificate, a statement signed by a named person (the declarer): printed from the original negative, printed under the artist's supervision, signed by the artist, print within the announced edition. Without a declarer, it is refused.

A declaration by the user: the package has been imported into Obscura Flow. The units become Transferred.

Replace a paper process with a digital one. The documents produced are then born digital.

Placing archives with a service without transfer of ownership, under a revocable, time-limited contract that may restrict access.

Two meanings. The role of a file made from another file of the work (an edit, an export, a reduced version); when a single work is created for several files, those that are not its reference image are linked to it as derivatives. And a relationship between two files (Derivative).

Disposal of records with no remaining value. For public records in France, it requires approval from the competent archives service.

A Mac that uses your licence. Their number depends on the plan; Settings › Account and licence › Devices › Remove… frees a Mac's seat.

Link from a unit to a file that stays where it is, with a role (Original, Access copy, Documentation, Other).

The actions that keep files readable and intact over time: multiple copies, checksums, fixity checks, format migrations. This is Obscura Flow's job.

Value computed over data with a private key and verified with the matching public key: it shows that the data has not changed since it was signed.

In Obscura Vault : Ed25519 signature of .obf archives

Produce a digital copy of a physical document. The file is a copy: the original remains the archive.

A document attached to a library file in Edit…: invoice, letter, condition report… It goes into the exports with the works linked to the file. See Attached documents.

A document attached to a work or to one of its prints, in its record's Documents tab: correspondence, invoice, exhibition sheet, archives, external certificate, condition report or other, with its date, reference and internal note. Like a document attached to a file, it is copied into the library with its SHA-256, can be confidential and serve as the proof of a provenance event or document an intervention. Delete document deletes the copy, never the original. See Documents.

The role of a file that documents the work without showing the work itself: a contact sheet, a photograph of the object, an archive. A documentation file cannot be the reference image.

Sources gathered to learn about a subject, not produced by whoever gathers them (subject files, copies of articles, other artists' catalogues). It informs but proves nothing about that person's activity; filed in an archival file, it becomes part of it.

For a Lightroom import, reading the catalog and the library without writing anything, to show what the import would do; it is free, without a licence. See The dry run.

Plan computed for reading, which cannot be executed.

On import, a file whose content (its SHA-256) is already in the library. Probable duplicate — in Similar photos, a photo almost identical to another. Possible duplicates, Duplicates to review — in Agents, entries with the same normalised name, to merge or not: Catalog never merges on its own.

Encoded Archival Description: XML exchange format for finding aids, which also encodes access points (persname, corpname, geogname, genreform, subject, title). Memory Atlas exports EAD3.

XML file in the EAD3 1.1.1 format that contains the description of a unit and its descendants, without the files. It cannot be imported back into Memory Atlas in this version.

Rights to exploit a work (reproduction, performance, adaptation), assignable and generally limited to 70 years after the author's death. Owning a document does not confer them.

EdDSA digital signature algorithm over the edwards25519 curve, described by RFC 8032.

In Obscura Vault : Signature of every .obf archive

The set of prints of one work declared together (New edition…), with its nature — Unique work, Limited edition, Open edition, Artist proof, Printer's proof, Exhibition copy, Hors commerce (HC) — and its size: how many copies it announces, whether or not they have all been printed. A closed edition takes no more copies. See Prints and editions.

The local value if there is one, otherwise the inherited value.

The two views of the editor: 6 essential elements, or the 26 elements in 7 areas.

Established: a verified fact (identical SHA-256). Estimated: an inference, always marked “estimé” (estimated).

The low and high estimates of a lot, in the sale's currency. Like the hammer price, they only leave in sales.csv.

Files with strictly identical content, established by full SHA-256.

An exhibition where works were shown (solo, group, fair, biennial, online, permanent display), recorded once in the Exhibitions section and shared by all its works, each with its room, wall, number and label. See Exhibitions.

A kind of document of the work: the loan or condition sheet of an exhibition.

Exchangeable Image File Format: the format of the technical metadata recorded by cameras (capture date, camera, settings), published by CIPA and JEITA (CIPA DC-008).

In Obscura Catalog : Read from images on import, never changed; see EXIF and XMP metadata

What is known of the work today: Extant, Lost, Destroyed, Location unknown, Not traced. The field is called Condition in the Identification tab and the works table, Existence in the facets and the exports. A work that is not extant may have no file at all.

The date a right ends (year, month or day). Once past, the right is said to have expired.

A kind of document of the work: a certificate issued outside Catalog (by the artist, an expert, a foundation), attached as a document. Not to be confused with a certificate of authenticity issued by Catalog.

The first and last reference codes of the articles a level groups ("HVA.3.001-HVA.3.046"). They are carried up to higher levels, from the particular to the general.

A face found by the analysis, on the Mac (Faces section). Faces that look alike are offered as suggestions, which you name. Their prints never leave.

An item of the library: an image referenced where it is, with its metadata and its SHA-256. A file is not a work and never becomes one on its own. Linked to a work, it holds a role there (negative, scan, master, derivative…); one file can be linked to several works (a contact sheet, for instance), and a work has as many files as needed, among them its reference image. See Work and file.

“An organized unit of documents grouped together either for current use by the creator or in the process of archival arrangement, because they relate to the same subject, activity, or transaction.”

In Memory Atlas : “File” level, which can contain sub-files

The identifier a library file may carry of its own (the file_number column of the full export). It is neither an inventory no. nor a catalogue no.; reports do not print it.

The file is no longer at its known location. This is not an integrity check.

What a file is to the work it is linked to (File role): Negative, Plate, Sheet film, Transparency, Scan, Master, Derivative, Documentation or Installation view. The role describes the file, never the physical object (the print does that); a file linked to several works has a role for each. A certificate's genealogy orders the files in their physical order, from negative to print. See Files.

Finding aid that describes a fonds down to file level.

The decision applied when the retention period ends: permanent preservation, sampling (partial preservation) or destruction. ISAD(G) records it in element 3.3.2.

“The broadest term to cover any description or means of reference made or received by an archives service in the course of establishing administrative or intellectual control over archival material.”

In Memory Atlas : Element 3.4.5 (text)

Digital signature of a file's content: two files with the same fingerprint have the same content.

The property of a file that has stayed identical to itself. The PREMIS data dictionary uses this name for the information used to verify whether an object has been altered in an undocumented or unauthorized way.

In Obscura Vault : Checked by comparing the SHA-256 checksum with its reference; see Fixity checks

Recomputing a file's SHA-256 checksum and comparing it with its reference. A different checksum signals an alteration.

The mark put on a file: Picked, Rejected or unflagged; it filters the grid.

The whole that a library's catalogue describes: an artist's body of work, a studio, an estate, a gallery. Its name (Settings › Catalogue › Fonds, “Jeanne Valory Estate”) is the source of LIDO records when Settings › Exports gives none, and the name of export files. Inventory nos. are unique in the fonds, and a relation only links two works of the same fonds. See also workspace.

“The whole of the records, regardless of form or medium, organically created and/or accumulated and used by a particular person, family, or corporate body in the course of that creator's activities and functions.”

In Memory Atlas : “Fonds” level, at the root of the tree; each fonds has its own entry in the Archives section of the sidebar

A number the work carried in an earlier catalogue, inventory or sale, with its source. A work has as many as needed; it can be searched (ancien:) and is never a catalogue no. nor an inventory no. Together, the former numbers make the concordance.

Bytes actually permanently deleted by transfers.

The two parties of a provenance event: who gives up the work, who receives it.

Copy of the check report saved with the transfer and included in the package.

The whole library and all its data in open formats, in a folder or a ZIP archive, with a manifest and a README: enough to read it without Catalog. It is not restored. See Full export of the library.

In a provenance, a span of ten years or more with no recorded event (Unexplained gaps).

On a certificate, the work's files in their physical order (from negative to print), then the edition's prints and the reproductions.

Free transfer of ownership of private archives to a service, during the owner's lifetime (gift by hand, notarized donation) or by will (bequest), possibly with conditions.

Set of files that the analysis matches together (exact duplicates or probable duplicates).

The price at which a lot is knocked down in an auction sale, with or without the buyer's premium (Buyer's premium included). An unsold or withdrawn lot has none. Like the estimates, it only leaves in the CSV export's sales.csv, never in LIDO, CIDOC, a report or a certificate.

Professional usage: grouping levels (fonds, sub-fonds, series, sub-series) differ from the levels that are handled and numbered (file, item).

In the scholarly notice, the work's genesis, reception and states. Not to be confused with the change history.

A nature of edition: a copy not for sale, numbered apart, “HC” in its number (…-P1-HC1/5).

Placing arranged records in suitable containers (folders, sleeves, boxes) following preventive conservation rules.

A fonds that mixes paper and born-digital files. When both bear witness to the same activities, a single arrangement scheme brings them together; otherwise, each gets its own.

International Council on Archives, author of ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF), ISDF, ISDIAH and RiC.

A folder you imported into the library (the code and a few messages call it a project). Its files stay where they are; moved, it is found again with Locate folder….

Assigning controlled terms (persons, corporate bodies, places, subjects, document types, titles of works) to a description so it can be found by index or facet. ISAD(G) does not cover it: EAD and ISAAR(CPF) do.

Element left empty that takes the value of the nearest ancestor (“Inherited · Fonds” badge).

The right-hand panel of the Library: all Catalog knows about the chosen file (file, linked work, description, indexing, documents, capture, tags, versions, relationships, all metadata). See The inspector.

The role of a file showing the work hung, in an exhibition or a place. It cannot be the reference image.

A fonds forms a whole: avoid dispersing it between several places or owners, record any appraisal, add no documents of another provenance.

Second age: documents no longer in regular use that must be kept for a while (retention period) before appraisal.

A working note: that of a work (Internal notes), a print, an agent, an intervention, a line of rights or a document of the work, and the note on a relation between works. It never leaves: no export, report or certificate, whatever the options.

A dated step in the conservation of a work or a print: restoration, incident or condition report, with its conservator, description, condition observed, document or reference, cost and internal note. Public by default; ticked Confidential, it only leaves with the confidential records.

The number under which a fonds, a studio or a collection recorded an object (a print, a plate, a negative), or a work. Optional, typed freely, as written in the inventory; unique in the fonds, works and prints alike, case and spaces aside (INV-042, inv-042 and INV 042 are the same number; hyphens, dots and accents count). Catalog checks it as you type and names the work or print that already holds it; the save is refused while the conflict lasts; editable, never derived from the catalogue no. or the print no. With an inventory number scheme, Assign an inventory no. offers the next one, only when you click it. See Catalogue no. and inventory no..

Number that identifies an object or work in a museum or library collection. It applies to a single item and needs no prior arrangement, whereas a reference code always results from arranging a fonds.

Optional (Settings › Catalogue › Inventory numbers, Propose numbers from a scheme): a prefix, a number of digits and a first number (INV-0001). It fills in nothing by itself: Assign an inventory no., next to the empty field, offers the number after the highest already given in the fonds under that scheme, to save with the record. It is never locked.

The press-photo standard for descriptive image metadata (title, description, creator, rights, keywords); Catalog reads it like XMP and respects its length limits.

International standard for archival authority records (corporate bodies, persons, families).

In Memory Atlas : Fields of authority records (5.1.1 to 5.4.8)

General International Standard Archival Description (ICA), 26 elements in 7 areas.

In Memory Atlas : Structure of the editor

International Standard for Describing Functions (ICA, 2008).

International Standard for Describing Institutions with Archival Holdings (ICA, 2008).

The agent in whose name certificates are issued, with their capacity (artist, estate, gallery, foundation, expert, museum).

“The smallest intellectually indivisible archival unit”: a letter, a report, a photograph, a sound recording.

In Memory Atlas : “Item” level: contains no units

Finding aid that describes a fonds down to item level.

Long-running task tracked by the app: analysis, plan, transfer, renaming. Each job has an identifier and a state.

Folder that contains the whole repository as JSON, which can be imported again into a new repository.

The required reason for an export that includes the confidential records. It is written next to the files (CONFIDENTIAL-EXPORT.txt) and into the confidential exports log; the option holds for that export only.

A word written into the file's IPTC or XMP metadata (also Lightroom's hierarchical keywords), edited in Edit…; distinct from a tag, which lives only in the library.

“The position of the unit of description in the hierarchy of the fonds.”

In Memory Atlas : Element 3.1.4, badge C, F, SF, S, SS, D, P

The folder where Catalog keeps its database (Catalog.sqlite), the copies of attached documents, the certificate PDFs, the thumbnails, the backups and its settings; by extension, all the referenced files, and the Library section that shows them (grid, loupe, inspector). Your images are never copied into it. A library holds a single fonds: for several fonds, one library each. See Where Catalog keeps its data.

The terms on which a work may be reproduced: all rights reserved, a Creative Commons licence, public domain, another licence or contract, or licence not stated; its terms specify it. See Rights of a work.

The right to use Obscura Catalog's paid features (LIDO and CIDOC exports, Lightroom import, more than 50 works, more than 10 issued certificates), held by an account, under a plan. Without a licence, the free tier. See Licence and free tier.

Lightweight Information Describing Objects: an XML schema designed to publish and harvest descriptions of collection objects, maintained by the ICOM CIDOC committee.

In Obscura Catalog : LIDO 1.1 export, with a licence: one record per work and per print, with nothing confidential and no amount; see Exports

Taking over a Lightroom Classic catalog (.lrcat): photos, curation, metadata, keywords (which become tags) and collections. The Lightroom catalog is read without being changed; the dry run is free, the import requires a licence. See Importing a Lightroom catalog.

Attach a file to a work, and undo that link. Between two files, you relate them and remove the relationship.

An agent marked Living person (GDPR), without a death date. While they are, every provenance event they are a party to is confidential; its amount is kept and only leaves in an export that includes the confidential records, with a justification. The mark itself is never exported. See Living persons.

A unit's own value for an element it would otherwise inherit.

The number under which a work is offered in an auction sale.

The large view of a file from the grid (double-click or Space), from a preview, never the original; Compare shows up to four side by side.

The signed description embedded in a certificate's PDF; it is what verification checks. A full export and a package have their own too (manifest.json, package.json), giving the size and SHA-256 of every file.

manifest.json file written in the destination, describing each transferred file, its origin and its fingerprint.

In a CSV import, the correspondence between the file's columns and Catalog's fields; it is saved under a name (Saved mapping).

Copy to keep first in a group; recommended by the app, chosen by you.

The role of a work's main file, its master file: the one whose data the Shooting data group reads first. A work created from a file receives it with this role, as reference image. The certificate calls it “master file”.

On a limited-edition print, create the edition's missing copies at once: the physical attributes are carried over; inventory no., holder, location, condition, price, certificate no. and internal note stay empty.

The conventions Memory Atlas follows in an EAD3 file where the standard leaves a choice (version 1.0), described so that another system knows how to read it.

Data that describes other data: for an image, its capture date, author, keywords, or rights.

In Obscura Catalog : The EXIF, IPTC and XMP metadata of images, read on import and enriched in Edit…

The mark of a file Catalog no longer finds at its location (disk unplugged, folder moved).

The part of copyright attached to the person: attribution, integrity of the work, disclosure. In France they are perpetual, inalienable and cannot be assigned.

ISAD(G) method: describe the fonds as a whole first, then each of its divisions, from the general to the particular, linking the descriptions and without repeating shared information.

Written, shared rules for naming folders and files, so that a name tells where a file comes from and sorts correctly (fonds prefix, reference code, sequence number, dates written year first, characters without accents or spaces).

The role of a file that is the work's negative: a scanned film or, for a digital shot, its RAW file. With the plate, sheet film and transparency, it feeds the suggested common negative and, failing a master, the Shooting data group.

French electronic archiving standard (requirements for a system that guarantees integrity and traceability), adopted internationally as ISO 14641.

Irrelevant results a search brings back, often from over-indexing.

ISAD(G) rule 2.4: give information common to the component parts at the highest appropriate level, without repeating it at lower levels.

In Memory Atlas : Inheritance and context (chapter 5), repetition warning, rule V-12

The result of a check that could not be completed, for example because the file is missing or unreadable. It never counts as “verified good”.

The list, kept apart from the works, of every catalogue no. ever assigned, including those of deleted works: a number stays reserved there and is never reissued, and the next number is computed from it.

Assigning a reference code to each article, once the fonds is arranged and housed. See Numbering your archives

Reference model for an Open Archival Information System (ISO 14721), defining the functions and packages (SIP, AIP, DIP) of a preservation system.

Preservation application from the same family: it keeps the files (copies, checksums, checks). Memory Atlas does not connect to it in this version.

In the change history, what produced a change: the record, a batch edit, a CSV import, an agent merge…

The order the creator gave to its records. It is kept, or restored if disturbed, as long as it remains intelligible.

A work's titles other than its title: original title, translated title, former title or other title, each with its language. The CSV import and export write them in one column per kind (alternate_titles for the untyped other title).

What became of a lot in an auction sale: Sold, Unsold or Withdrawn.

A folder, or a ZIP archive, prepared with File › Prepare a Package for Vault… to entrust the library to Obscura Vault: a backup, a full export without images and the list of the originals, by their SHA-256; on option, copies of the originals. Its backup always holds the confidential records and the internal notes. See Package for Obscura Vault.

The From or the To of a provenance event, an agent.

The archival form of PDF, made to stay readable over time; certificates and reports use it.

Third age: documents selected for indefinite preservation. Also called historical archives.

In the Faces section, the name given to a group of faces that look alike. It stays in that section; it is not an agent.

Exact list of operations a transfer will perform, computed before any write.

What your account holds: Free (without a licence), Creator, Pro or Studio. The free tier describes up to 50 works and issues up to 10 certificates, without LIDO and CIDOC exports or the Lightroom import; a paid plan opens those features and raises the plan limits, which Settings › Account and licence shows. See Licence and free tier.

What the plan lets you create, counted by Catalog before each creation and shown in Settings › Account and licence: works (50 without a licence), issued certificates (10 without a licence), workspaces and devices. Every record in the catalogue counts as a work, drafts included, and so does each variant; prints and files do not count, and a deleted work no longer counts (its number stays reserved). Certificates are counted by number. Browsing, editing and exporting as CSV are never limited.

The role of a file that is the work's glass plate (negative on glass), scanned; it counts for the suggested common negative.

A directed relation: the work (a study, a trial, a first state) that prepared another is preparatory for it; the other's record names it Preparatory work.

Preparation and export of a transfer package for a validated branch (checks P-01 to P-10).

A document attesting the integrity of an .obf archive and the fixity of a file, as observed at a given date. See The preservation certificate.

Highest-quality scan in a durable format (TIFF, JPEG 2000), kept for preservation and to produce other files. In Memory Atlas, the "Original" role.

The attribution role of whoever prints a book, a portfolio or a poster; distinct from the printer, who makes the photographic print.

Indirect measures that slow the decay of records: neutral containers, stable climate, limited light, careful handling, an emergency plan.

In a CSV import, the dry run that shows the accepted and rejected rows before writing: nothing is written before Import.

A physical object printed from a work, with its print no., edition, dimensions, process and paper, signature, condition, status and, if it has one, its inventory no. It is what a print certificate describes. A print is not a work and does not count towards the plan limits. Its current holder, location and price never leave. See Prints and editions.

A print's number, derived from the work's catalogue no. (…-P2-3/8, …-P2-EA1/2), frozen when it is created; Renumber corrects it when the edition has changed. See A print's number.

Where the object stands: In stock, Sold, Consigned, On loan, Gifted, Lost or Destroyed. Not to be confused with the record's status.

The role of whoever makes the photographic print; distinct from the press printer.

A nature of edition: the copies kept for the printer, numbered apart, “PP” in their number (…-P1-PP1/2).

When a print was made relative to the shot: vintage, later, modern, posthumous print.

All archives that are not public (art. L. 211-5): those of a person, a family, a company, an association, an artist's studio. A private fonds may contain public records.

The only name, on every screen, for very similar images that the analysis matches by their visual fingerprints (dHash and pHash within 10 bits). An inference, never a fact: each group carries its “estimée” (estimated) confidence and awaits your confirmation in the Centre de revue (Review Center). Neither cropping nor rotation is recognized. Distinct from exact duplicates, established by SHA-256.

The document, or the publication, that establishes a provenance event; an attribution's published evidence is a citation. The proof of a confidential event is confidential with it.

The ownership history of a work, from its creation to the present. Together with the rest of the documentation, it underpins what is known of its authenticity.

In Obscura Catalog : The chain of holders of a work or a print: its provenance events, dated, with their parties, place, amount and proof, confidential by default. See Provenance

“The relationship between records and their creator.”

In Memory Atlas : Carried by the fonds and its creators; moving a branch to another fonds asks for confirmation

A step in the provenance: acquisition, sale, gift, bequest, deposit, loan, exhibition, restoration…, dated, with its parties, place, amount and proof. Confidential by default.

Archives resulting from the activity of the State, local authorities, public institutions and other public-law bodies (art. L. 211-4). They are inalienable, and access to them follows statutory time limits.

A book, catalogue, periodical, article or website where works are cited, recorded once in the Publications section and shared by all the works cited (see citation). See Publications.

The minimum completeness to publish a work, from 0 to 100% in steps of 5 (60% by default), in Settings › Catalogue. The completeness ring turns green when it is reached.

Acquisition for a price, which also transfers ownership.

The raw file of a digital camera (.CR2, .NEF, .DNG…), often called a digital negative. On import, Catalog pairs a RAW with the JPEG of the same name (RAW + JPEG relationship); a RAW is never rewritten: its metadata go into an XMP sidecar. Linked to a work, it takes the role you give it (Negative, Master…). See RAW and JPEG of the same shot.

A new version of a certificate, under the same number; the previous one is “superseded”. It corrects a clerical error.

Opening without the possibility of changes (repository open elsewhere, location that cannot be written to, damaged database).

A work's description, with its tabs (Identification, Attribution, Prints, Conservation, Provenance, Exhibitions, Publications, Relations, Rights, Files, Documents).

The description of one unit. All records, ordered by the arrangement scheme, make up the finding aid.

Space taken up by extra copies or by sources in the Trash; nothing has been freed yet.

String of letters and digits that uniquely identifies an article, shows its place in the fonds and lets it be found on the shelves. One code per article, one article per code. In Memory Atlas, the composite reference code.

The file that represents a work; one per work, none if the work has no file. The first linked file that can be becomes it; a Documentation or Installation view file cannot. Its title and the work's follow each other (never silently). Reports print it; a work's certificate qualifies it.

The files are not copied into the package: it gives their paths.

The list of certificates issued from the library, with their status (Register view of the Certificates section).

The relation between two works linked without further detail.

What links two works of the catalogue: related work, variant, same negative, same sitting, preparatory work (the record's Relations tab). It reads from both records; you add a relation and remove the relation. See Relations.

A link between two files: RAW + JPEG, Derivative, Edit, Stack, Duplicate, Other. Catalog creates RAW + JPEG relationships itself on import, Duplicate when you import duplicates and Stack from a Lightroom catalog; you set the others. You relate two files and remove the relationship. See Relationships.

unlink undoes a link between a file and a work; remove takes something out of a set without making it disappear (a file from the library or a collection: it stays on disk; a work from an exhibition; a relation between two works, which stay in the catalogue); delete erases from the catalogue something that exists only there (a work, an agent, a collection, a tag, a document of the work: its copy, never the original).

A PDF/A document drawn from the catalogue: portfolio, catalogue raisonné or inventory. Nothing confidential, no amount and no internal note is printed in it.

.atlas file that holds an archival database: fonds, descriptions, authority records, terms, accessions, transfers. One window per repository.

Name, country code (ISO 3166), repository code and reference code separator, along with the archivist's name and the default rules or conventions (File › Repository Identity…).

What whoever reproduces the work must know (“no cropping or overprinting”, “estate's consent required”); part of a line of rights.

Founding principle, formulated in France by Natalis de Wailly in 1841: each record stays in the fonds it comes from, and in its place within that fonds. It covers respect for provenance, for the integrity of the fonds and for original order. See Respect des fonds

An intervention that treats the object; also a kind of provenance event.

Continuation of an interrupted transfer, from the journal, without copying again what is verified.

How long a document must be kept for its creator's needs or for legal reasons before its final disposition applies.

The withdrawal of a certificate for a public reason, from a closed list; it stays in the register, and every verification says it is revoked. It cannot be undone.

Records in Contexts: ICA conceptual model describing records, agents, activities and their relations as a graph; it is meant to succeed the four standards.

The agent (the author, their estate, an agency) who holds the rights of a work; a work may have several, one line of rights each. See Rights.

Person who holds an author's rights after them (heir, legatee) or by assignment.

The record's Rights tab: the free rights statement, then the rights holders and licences, one line per right: the rights holder, the licence and its terms, the reproduction restrictions and the expiry. They are the work's, never a print's; they leave with the work in the exports, without their internal note.

The free text printed as it is with the work (“© Jeanne Valory, 1978”) and exported as a credit line. A series can pass it on.

Automatic copy of a repository's database, which can be restored as a new repository.

Two relations between works: printed from the same negative (or the same plate, sheet film); taken at the same sitting. Both read both ways. The suggested common negative comes from the files linked to both works as negative, plate, sheet film or transparency, and is never recorded automatically.

Saving writes to a disk; backing up duplicates so you can restore; archiving keeps over time while guaranteeing integrity, authenticity and access. A backup is not an archive.

A named advanced search, which runs again in one click and can become a smart collection. See Saved searches.

The role of a file that is a scan (of a print, of a negative) of the work.

A fixity check run at regular intervals, without waiting for the day you need the file.

In a record, the work's history (its genesis, reception, states) and its analysis (the critical commentary), distinct from the description and the artist's statement.

Standard d'échange de données pour l'archivage: French XML format describing transfers of digital records between creators and archives services.

The part of the reference code that belongs to a unit (NEG), unique among its siblings.

The name of the series a work belongs to; it is a facet, a filter for reports, and carries the series defaults.

Organic division of a fonds: a set of files kept together because they result from the same activity, relate to the same function or subject, or share the same form.

In Memory Atlas : “Series” level

The values (work type, technique, support, genre, rights statement) a series passes on to the empty fields of its works, and the line of rights it gives a work that has none yet; they are copied into the work, not read on the fly. Its default agent becomes the accepted author of a work that has none yet. See Series values.

A 64-character fingerprint computed from the exact content of a file. Two identical files have the same one; the slightest changed byte changes it. Catalog computes it on import and for every attached document; the exports and the package for Vault give it for every file.

Hash function of the SHA-2 family, standardized by NIST (FIPS 180-4), that sums up data as a 256-bit checksum.

In Obscura Vault : Checksum of every file

The role of a file that is the work's large-format negative (cut film, 4×5…), scanned; it counts for the suggested common negative.

Two meanings. A print's: signed, stamped, estate stamp, unsigned, with its text as written and its location. And a certificate's: the cryptographic seal (Ed25519) that the signing key puts on it, and that verification checks.

The key, kept in the Mac's keychain, that signs certificates; its encrypted backup is required before issuing.

Relevant records a search fails to find, often for lack of indexing.

The tab of the Faces section that shows the photos close to a photo, and the probable duplicates (crops, edits, exports of one image), from the analysis. See Similar photos.

A standard format for exchanging controlled vocabularies (RDF/XML); the thesaurus exports to it.

Disk or folder designated for analysis. One per disk.

On a certificate and in the record's Traceability group, the file of the capture (failing that, the reference image), with its SHA-256: what ties the record to one precise file.

A relationship between files that groups images under one, like a Lightroom stack; importing a Lightroom catalog carries its stacks over.

How far a record has come: Draft, In review, Validated, Published, Withdrawn, with only the allowed moves. Publishing requires an accepted attribution in the photographer role and the publication threshold. A published or withdrawn work cannot be deleted; only a validated or published work can be certified. See Statuses and publishing. A print has its own print status.

Processing stage of a unit: Draft, Arranging, Described, Validated, Ready for preservation, Transferred.

Checking that articles are in their place, with their location, container, condition and access conditions.

Where a work is kept in the fonds: a kind (Hard drive, Binder, Box, Drawer, Shelf, Other) and a free reference (“Box 12”). A work has as many as needed. Internal information: it is searched (storage:) but only leaves in a CSV export that includes the confidential records. Not to be confused with a print's location, the place of its holder.

Organic division of a fonds corresponding to the administrative divisions of the creator or, failing that, to a geographical, chronological, functional or other grouping; can be subdivided as often as needed.

In Memory Atlas : “Sub-fonds” level, which can contain other sub-fonds

Subdivision of a series (intermediate level).

In Memory Atlas : “Sub-series” level, which can contain other sub-series

Letter or code added to a reference code for the part of an article stored elsewhere because of its format or medium (HVA.4.021-R for a rolled survey drawing kept in a plan chest).

A free label put on files, shared by the whole library; the keywords of an imported Lightroom catalog become tags. Not to be confused with the colour label, nor with a keyword written into the file.

Archive format that bundles files and folders into a single file; its interchange format (ustar) is described by the POSIX standard (IEEE Std 1003.1).

In Obscura Vault : Container of an .obf archive

The controlled vocabulary: hierarchical terms and synonyms.

Controlled, hierarchical vocabulary (broader, narrower, related and non-preferred terms) that keeps indexing consistent, such as the French Thésaurus W for local records. In Memory Atlas, the Terms.

Records life cycle theorized by Yves Pérotin: current records (used for business), intermediate records (kept for administrative or legal needs pending a decision) and permanent records (kept indefinitely for their historical value).

An RFC 3161 token delivered by an authority, attesting that a signature existed at a given date (badge Timestamped). Without it, a certificate's date is declarative.

The view of the Certificates section where the certificates whose attribution has become disputed or rejected arrive; you decide to Re-issue, Revoke or Keep. Nothing is revoked automatically.

Register in which each operation on a file is written before it is performed, then its result. Basis of any resume.

ma-transfer-<identifier>/ folder with manifest.json, archival-description.json, authorities.json and validation-report.json, to be imported into Obscura Flow.

The role of a file that is the work's slide (reversal film, Ektachrome), scanned; like the negative, plate and sheet film, it counts for the suggested common negative.

macOS Trash of the disk concerned. Default destination of the sources of a move and of replaced files. Never emptied by the app.

“A document or set of documents in any physical form, treated as an entity, and as such, forming the basis of a single description.”

In Memory Atlas : Any node of the tree

In a CSV import, the names missing from the directory. Nothing is created silently: for each one, Create, Attach to… an existing agent or Reject rows (for exhibitions and publications, Keep the name as written too). A name matches an agent by equality after normalisation (case, accents and punctuation ignored), never by resemblance. See Unknown agents.

A library file linked to no work; **Create works from n unlinked files… (⋯ menu of Works**) turns them into works, never automatically.

Check of a branch against rules V-01 to V-14; units without errors become Validated.

In the change history, what a change to a sensitive field (price, holder, location, internal note) shows: the history says the field changed, without keeping its value.

Two meanings. First, the suffix (A, B…) of a catalogue no., which tells two states of one exposure apart: NV-023-A and NV-023-B are two works, each citable, each counted in the plan limits; the variant is frozen on publication. Then, a relation between works: another version of the same image (another crop, another state, another print), which reads both ways.

Checking a certificate: in Certificates › Verify a PDF, offline, which also says whether it was revoked; or online, at the address printed on the certificate, in the browser, without sending the PDF. Always free. See Verify a PDF.

The result for a file that was actually read again and whose checksum matches its reference.

The record of an earlier state of a file (SHA-256 and size).

Signature of an image's appearance, which withstands recompression and resizing.

Disk or partition.

Volume whose file system does not guarantee a reliable file identifier (exFAT, FAT, unknown format).

The citable unit of the catalogue raisonné, with its catalogue no. and its record. It is distinct from the file (an image in the library) and from the print (a physical object): a work may have several files and several prints, or none. You are the one who creates works; a file never becomes a work on its own. Every work counts towards the plan limits. See Work and file.

The form of catalogue nos. (Settings › Catalogue): a prefix, the year if you include it, and a sequence number of 1 to 12 digits (SB-2026-000154 by default). It locks as soon as a work carries a number: set it before the first. See Setting up numbering.

The Table presentation of the Works section: one row per work, with the columns of your choice, sortable, and Export this table… to CSV. See The works table.

The technical name of the fonds: Settings › Catalogue › Fonds gives the workspace's name. A library holds one; the plan limits count workspaces.

Extensible Metadata Platform: an extensible metadata format, standardized as ISO 16684-1, used by imaging software for descriptions, keywords, or rights.

In Obscura Catalog : Read from images and their sidecars; Catalog writes title, description, creator, rights, keywords, rating, label, date and coordinates, by default into an XMP sidecar next to the image

A small .xmp file placed next to an image, carrying its metadata without changing the image.

Lossless compression algorithm, published as open source and described by RFC 8878. Lossless: once decompressed, each file is byte-for-byte identical to the original.

In Obscura Vault : Compression of an .obf archive