What information can you find?
A search will display a results page listing the records in order of relevance. The results page will display the basic catalogue record information and a thumbnail image where available. You can read more information and see a larger image by clicking on the relevant list item.
Simple Searches
Simply type one or more words into the search box and click on Search. This will search all the artworks on this website; records are displayed in order of relevance with the most relevant being first.
If you see the words No Records found, this means that there are no records matching your search term. This does not necessarily mean that records on your chosen search subject are unavailable, but you might have to think about using a different search word or phrase.
Displaying your results
Your search results will be displayed in a list with thumbnail images where available. You can decide how many records you wish to view on a page by choosing the number of records under the Items per page option. If your search returns more than one page of results use the Next, End, Previous and Start and page numbers to display the different pages.
Narrow your search
You may wish to narrow your search results further with a number of options available under the ‘Narrow your search’ section. This facility identifies records which are associated with particular terms, places and subjects and allows you to view these related records.
`Subjects’ identifies themes and terms associated with individual records and there can be more than one for each record. These subjects are designed to highlight important links which can help the user find relevant records in their search. The subject matter of photographs, documents and paintings will be identified along with wider relevant subject areas. These may include associated industries, leisure activities and events in history. There is a subject called Black Country which links items across the museum collections which were made in the Black Country, depict the Black Country or the maker originated from the Black Country.
`Times’ relate to specific time periods in our history, where possible, items in the collections have been linked with the time period they are associated with. For example, an object made in 1850 will be linked to the time period Victorian (1837-1901).
`People’ categorises records by people and organisations related to the item. These may be company names, artists, trade unions and people referred to in archival documents and photographs.
`Places’ identifies place names associated with the item and often refer to where the item was made, the place depicted in a photograph or painting and the place archival documents relate to.
`Format’ represents the technique used to make the object or the form it takes. For example, artworks may be printed, painted or drawn. Archival documents may be handwritten, be in the form of a photograph, film or on microfilm. The museum collections hold various decorative items which have been carved, enamelled or japanned.
`Partner’ narrows the search down by partner identifying which archive or museum service holds the item(s) in their collection.
A small green box with a `+’ symbol can be seen next to the heading, when this is clicked the various subjects appear underneath in red. The number in the brackets shows the number of records in the search which share this related link. These words are listed in order of the number of related records with the largest at the top. These red words when clicked will display all the records with the shared link. This is a very useful tool in guiding you through the large collections to your specific interest.
There can be numerous related links displayed on the page. If the lists get too long you can close them by clicking the green `-‘ button next to the heading.
Browsing Images
The website has many excellent images, you can browse these by using the image gallery option under the search box. Simply use the left and right hand arrows to scroll through the images. You can pause the slide show by clicking on the ‘Pause’ button below the large image.
Click on an image to display basic information such as name, brief description and related subjects. These related subjects are displayed in red and when clicked direct you to other images related to the same subjects. To display full details of the item click on View Details and the complete record will appear with the image. Some records will have more than one image attached and these will all be displayed with the catalogue record.
Internet Browser compatibility
This site is best viewed using the Internet Explorer Version 7 or above, or Mozilla Firefox.
