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Piloting Wikidata as an Authority Identifier: The (In)visible Women Project at the Smithsonian Institution Cover

Piloting Wikidata as an Authority Identifier: The (In)visible Women Project at the Smithsonian Institution

Open Access
|Feb 2026

Abstract

This data paper documents the American Women’s History Initiative Wikidata Focus List as contributed to by the Smithsonian’s (In)Visible Women project. This focus list features a selection of name records from Smithsonian data sources that document the artistic, philanthropic, and cultural contributions of women. Disambiguating names is an ongoing challenge within pan-Smithsonian datasets, compounded by siloed databases and lacking documentation within external authority identifiers. The name records that appear within this focus list were collected from several Smithsonian units and created using a collaboratively developed data model. Reuse potential includes supporting researchers interested in a particular artist, sitter, donor, etc.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.467 | Journal eISSN: 2059-481X
Language: English
Submitted on: Nov 10, 2025
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Accepted on: Jan 5, 2026
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Published on: Feb 3, 2026
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2026 Amanda H. Sorensen, Rachel Menyuk, Deborah Shapiro, Richard Naples, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.