Authority

In the context of Cultural Heritage, authority refers to the power that a person or group of persons have to define what is regarded as heritage, and to decide how that heritage might best be preserved and exploited. More recently, concepts such as shared authority have emerged to describe practices of power-sharing about heritage between traditional heritage brokers, such as professionals in museums, archives and libraries, and those for whom the heritage is deemed to belong or have belonged. Affiliated with the term ‘authority’ are terms such as ‘author’ or ‘authorship’. The author – in most instances – is deemed to have legitimate claim, authority over or responsibility for that work.