The IMA uses the format suggested by the American Association of Museums as outlined in their publication, The AAM Guide to Provenance Research, Washington, D.C. 2001. In this format, provenance is listed in chronological order, beginning with the earliest date. "Probably" or "Possibly" are designations used to identify uncertain information. Dealers or auction houses are enclosed in parentheses to distinguish them from private owners; when life dates of owners are known they are enclosed in brackets. Punctuation is used to indicate relationships between owners: a semicolon(;) is used to indicate that a work of art passed directly between two owners, and a period(.) is used to indicate that a direct transfer did not occur or is not known to have occurred. Footnotes are used to document bibliographic or archival sources, or to clarify information.