My experience has been that it's better to preserve the existing number
system(s) if possible.  Too often they're updated with a new system, only to
discover that the old numbers provided a link to various collections
documents, which now need to be "translated" to be useful.  Also, I've
discovered that sometimes the old systems, as quirky as they may seem to us,
actually had some logic behind them that made it useful to understand the
original donor's/collector's thinking about a collection.  You certainly
don't want to place new numbers side-by-side with the old numbers (yes, this
actually happens)--you'll inevitably make mistakes when you've looked at the
wrong number.  Worse yet, the next collections manager will determine we've
made a mess of things and institute their own numbering system--and the
cycle continues.

The more important issue is that everything object has its own unique
catalog number.  Duplicate and illegible numbers are far more problematic
than a quirky numbering system.  If your computer cataloguing software can
handle the different numbering systems and you're consistent about where you
place/write them in your database, you should be fine.

As for the artifact/archive problem that's encountered in history museums, I
suggest using a four-part numbering system instead of the usual three-parts.
The first two parts of the number are the same, but the final two are used
to identify the group (or in archival parlance, the folder or series) and
the individual item.  You may wind up numbering a lot of objects X.X.1.1,
but when you encounter a large accession, you'll know exactly what to do.

You can also try the approach used by many art museums, who add "parts" to
the catalog number as needed.  They typically don't add many objects to the
collections, so they usually stick to a two-part number.  When they get a
larger accession, they add an additional part.  When I first encountered
this, I thought it was sloppy, but I've come to realize that it's similar to
the numbering of software versions and as long as everyone understands what
it means and it doesn't create duplicate numbers, the system works.

Good luck!

Max A. van Balgooy,
Director of Interpretation and Education
National Trust for Historic Preservation


-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa Moellering [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 3:46 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Numbering system advice


Dear List:

We have a collection of some 6,000 objects/items (maybe more).  We recently
purchased PastPerfect for cataloging the objects and archival collections.
The problem is that we have three different numbering systems in place and
was wondering if it was worth the time to re-number everything.  Previous
staff/volunteers also numbered everything (for example - in an archival
collection of hundreds of documents, each page is numbered and described by
item) and when cataloging this collection on PastPerfect, would be more apt
to describe at the series/folder level instead of item level unless the item
is particularly noteworthy.

Any thoughts or advice from others who have encountered collections which
needed help?

Thanks very much.

Regards,

Lisa Moellering
Archives and Research Services
Holocaust Museum Houston
5401 Caroline Street
Houston, Texas 77004
713.942.8000 ext. 110
713.942.7953 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
www.hmh.org

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