Institutions are included in the MeMO database if they are institutions in which the objects, text carriers and texts described served a function in the commemoration of the dead before 1580. These institutions may or may not exist today. Please note: for purposes of brevity these are called ‘original institutions’, but keep the following in mind:

• In some cases the described sources served a function in different successive institutions, where they had a function in the commemoration of the dead. This goes for both text carriers containing one or multiple texts and for objects, see MeMO memorial object ID 1666 and 921.
• It is also possible that (all or some) separate texts that are now in a single text carrier were not yet conjoined when they had their original function, and functioned in different institutions. These are composites, see section 2.4. This is one of the reasons why more than one institution can be indicated for a text carrier containing multiple texts. For this reason, it is advisable to consistently check the explanation under Specification in the descriptions.

These are therefore not necessarily the institutions in which the objects, text carriers and texts have been produced. To summarise: original institutions are institutions in which the objects, text carriers and texts had a function in the commemoration of the dead.