The professional museum goes beyond simply collecting objects; it must also collect information. Often the importance of careful registration and cataloging are overlooked in the busy environment of local museums and small historical societies. The task of registrar may fall to a volunteer. PastPerfect Museum Software is designed to help address the needs of organizations with little or no training in collection management.
An accession is one or more objects acquired at one time from one source, constituting a single transaction between the museum and a source (Burcaw 1997).
Registration is the process of developing and maintaining an immediate, brief, and permanent means of identifying an object for which the institution has permanently or temporarily assumed responsibility (Nauert 1979).
The registration system is the museum's memory. Some would argue that the records are as important as the objects themselves. Keeping good records is a primary function of a good museum. Your museum has placed its collections in your hands. Someday you will pass the collection on to its next caretaker. It is your fundamental responsibility to hand over the collection and its records in good condition.
If your organization is brand new, you have the unique opportunity to begin truly at the beginning. Your task is to implement a registration system that is easy to understand, flexible and expandable. This can be accomplished by starting with a numbering system that is in keeping with professional standards throughout the museum community. You do not have to reinvent the wheel. The three-part numbering system is standard in the history museum field and is readily understood by museum professionals.
The three-part registration numbering system is both simple to apply and expandable. To begin, assign each accession to the year it was received. For example, if the item or group of items was received by the museum in 2001, then 2001 is the first part of the three-part number. The second part of the number is derived from the chronological order in which the accession was received. For example, the first group of items received in the year 2001 would be assigned the number 1. Now our number has two parts: 2001.1. This number, 2001.1, is the accession number for the item or group of items.
To further distinguish the items within the accession, simply add item numbers to the accession number to give each item in the accession a unique Object ID number. For example, the first item in the accession would be given the Object ID number 1, the next would be 2, and so on. Now our first item in the accession has the unique Object ID number 2001.1.1, the second item would be 2001.1.2, and so on. Thus the system has given you three pieces of information: the year of the accession, the number of gifts in a given year, and the number of items in each gift. This system is simple to understand and unlimited in application.
There are obvious advantages to the three-part numbering system. You do not have to worry about how many objects are in each accession. It is expandable to accommodate any number of items. The second advantage, and perhaps the most important, is that it identifies the source of the donation. The accession portion of the number can be related easily to the donor information. In PastPerfect, this information can be viewed from any record in the Objects, Photos, Archives, or Library catalogs by clicking on the file folder icon to the right of the Accession number and source name, or by moving the mouse over or clicking the Source button on the Sidebar on the left side of the screen.
TIP: File folder icons in PastPerfect are links to more information. In catalog screens, the file folder icon to the right of the Accession# and Source fields is the link to view the related accession record.
Some curators are tempted to use letters in their numbering system to save time. In sets of objects such as teacups, the temptation is to assign one Object ID number and distinguish the various cups by letters: a, b, c, d, etc. This is a common sight in collections:
2001.1.1a Teacup
2001.1.1b Teacup
Or, sometimes:
2001.1.1a-b Teacups
In sets of objects, such as identical teacups, you should number them individually. Think of them as a set of identical twins. You wouldn't name your children William-a and William-b. They have individual histories and may not always be together. In addition, the two cups will certainly have different condition reports, just as the children will have different medical histories. The two sets of information will be difficult to record on only one collection record. Don't be tempted to corrupt a perfectly good numbering system in this way. The relationship between the two objects can be recorded in PastPerfect through the Related Items function. This will be discussed in detail in Chapter 6 - The Objects Catalog.
Don't ask your numbering system to work too hard. Some curators attempt to use the accession and Object ID numbers to classify objects. Most of these systems break down as soon as they are implemented. For example: you may be tempted to use the prefix "T" to indicate tools. Soon you realize that you have carpenter's tools (CTs) and shipwright's tools (STs); next you identify seamstress's tools (ST2s), blacksmith's tools (BTs), and dentist's tools (DTs). Very soon you will need a scorecard to understand your own system. In addition, a numbering system that employs alphabetical prefixes will soon have items with identical numbers differing only in prefix. Museums with such numbering systems will find their record keeping complicated and confusing.
If you already have a registration system in place, PastPerfect can accommodate it as long as each item has a unique Object ID or catalog number. In the past, many museums simply assigned a chronological number to each accession. For example, a group of items might be given the accession number 5000 because that is the next number in the sequence. The individual items in the accession would be assigned chronological numbers as well. Thus, the items in this system might be assigned the unique Object ID numbers 5000.1, 5000.2, 5000.3, etc. The next accession would be 5001 and so on. This system will work in PastPerfect because each item has a unique number.
The PastPerfect Accession screen can be used to add, edit, and print accession records. It displays the source information as well as the received by and accessioned by names and dates at the top of the screen. When adding a new accession record, you can import a donor's name and address from the Contacts file to fill in the source information. On the Sidebar on the left of the Accession screen are additional screen views and actions. A green data light will appear on the buttons where there is information within the screen view. By moving your mouse over or clicking on the Description button, you can view the general description of the accession, notes, and restrictions. A list of catalog records that are in the accession can be viewed by moving the mouse over or clicking the Catalog Records button. Activities that need to be performed or have been performed relating to the accession can be viewed by moving the mouse over or clicking on the Activities button. The buttons under the More Screens section allow you to access the Thank You Letter and Deed of Gift. Use the Thank You Letter button to display and print a letter to the donor. The Deed of Gift button allows you to edit or print a Deed of Gift form. If you have more than one donor for an accession, you can view them, as well as print a Deed of Gift and Thank You Letter for them, by clicking the Add/View Additional Donor button. The Update History button allows you to see who made changes to the accession record and when.
The buttons under Actions allow you to add, edit, or delete catalog records linked to an accession, and add or edit activities. You can also change the accession number if it was entered incorrectly.
The Deed of Gift form and Thank You Letter are prepared automatically from donor information entered when adding the accession record and from information contained on the Default Deed of Gift form and the Default Thank You Letter. These default forms are accessed by going to the Main Menu | Setup | Collections | Accessions. These forms will be discussed later in this chapter.
In PastPerfect, the accession number refers to the unique number that defines an item or group of items received from a single source at one time. Essentially, the accession number refers to the transaction of the item or items rather than the items themselves. The Object ID is the unique catalog number assigned to each item. An accession may contain any number of items with unique Object IDs.
When objects come into the museum, they should be evaluated before being accessioned into the collection. Temporary Custody allows you to record important information about the source and print a receipt for the donor prior to the museum's decision to accession and number the items. Once the decision has been made to accession the objects, an accession record and number will be assigned to the collection. However, there may be occasions when items are accessioned immediately. This chapter will explain how to fill out the Accession form.
The basic steps to accession items into the collection are: