Open Forum

Hi all - does anyone have guidelines for exhibit label credit lines to share?

I come from the academic publishing world where citations are clearly outlined in style guides. Now that I write exhibit labels, I wonder if there is something similar for museum labels. For example, what is the standard for crediting a museum owned artifact? What about one that was donated or on loan? What about a cast or reproduction? What about a picture of an artifact?

I am not looking for how-to guides for tombstone labels - I know that many art museums share these. I am looking for a credit line style guide that is inclusive of all those random circumstances that come up in state, science, cultural, and children's museums.

Please help!

Thanks so much, Lana. I reference Serrell's book often but wish there was a standard for credit lines laid out somewhere.

Thanks so much Judy!

Hi Claire,

I am just finishing my dissertation on writing and translating museum labels. I have a linguistic background, and I am working on a new classification of museum labels. Likewise, I hope to be able to edit a guide soon that will be helpful in these kinds of situations.

Let me share with you this very helpful resource that, I think, can help you in the writing of credit labels: https://www.ellenguajemuseografico.org/en/corollary-a-proposal-for-a-structure-for-the-credits-label-of-an-exhibition/

This is the corollary of 'The Museographic Language' book, by Guillermo Fernandez. The book can be read for free online. The English translation is provided by Erik Stengler.