Participants and objects

A depositor supplies a possession and an assertion of authority to entrust it. An owner holds the relevant ownership interest. A custodian takes responsibility for possession and care during an interval. These roles may belong to different people. Staff record the distinction before authorizing a new use or onward loan.

A visitor enters the setting and encounters the collection. A contributor supplies an account, photograph, repair, annotation, or other addition. A correspondent accepts a channel for a specific exchange. A host arranges an occasion and attends to participation. A curator proposes relationships among material, people, activities. A researcher examines a stated inquiry through specified observations.

A person can move among these roles. Someone visits, contributes a technical observation, accepts correspondence, later borrows the object. Each change concerns particular permissions and responsibilities. The person's legal identity, public description, temporary session reference, relationship to the object receive separate treatment under object-indexed identity. Staff need this specificity while reconstructing events and discussing access.