An automated date parser for ArchivesSpace.
timewalk will automatically parse any values in ArchivesSpace's Date Expresssion field into ISO8601-compliant Begin and End values. In addition, it will parse out date certainties and set the calendar/era values automatically.
The latest version of timewalk is compatible with ArchivesSpace 3.0 and above, and is not compatible with ArchivesSpace 2.x. A version compatible with ArchivesSpace 2.x is available here
timewalk will parse any single date, or date span, properly. The following dates will parse correctly:
January 1900
[February 1860 - March 20, 1990]
ca. 1950 to 1960
Date lists will not parse as expected, as the parser will break them into discrete dates. The following examples will not parse:
1999, 2000
January 1900; December 2000
February 20 and April 19, 1950
These dates should be broken into distinct Date entries in ArchivesSpace regardless; in other words, timewalk behaves as expected, assuming good data practice.
Create a plugins/timewalk directory in your ArchivesSpace directory, copy the repository into that directory, and add timewalk to your AppConfig[:plugins] list.
Created by Alexander Duryee at The New York Public Library.
timewalk is built on timetwister, created by a cast of characters at the New York Public Library.