Based on The index of Christian art, a thematic and iconographic index of early Christian and medieval art objects begun at Princeton University in 1917. As of July 1, 2017, the Index of Christian Art became The Index of Medieval Art. The change reflects the broad evolution of the institution's scope and mission since its founding in 1917, when its work was limited to cataloguing religious themes and subjects in early Christian art up to 700 C.E. A century later, records have expanded to encompass both religious and secular imagery, including Jewish and Islamic works, from the first centuries of the Common Era until the sixteenth century.