Regarding duplicate numbers  --having dealt with this numerous times over
the years, I believe that the amount of detail in the documentation is not a
good basis for deciding which item to renumber. There are many other things
to consider first. Start by trying to figure out how the duplication
occurred, as there is some chance that there is actually a different correct
number for one of the two items.

Often a double number is the result of duplication at the time of numbering
multiple items in a single collection and the duplicated items came from the
same accession so you could simply add another number onto the end of the
last number of the group.  If this is not the case, then the next most
likely cause is simply misnumbering -in which case most of the digits are
likely to be correct, and you can check out possible new combinations of
numbers until you find the error.

1) Sleuth: check the sequence the number is in and determine which if the
two items belongs with that sequence.  (Usually, depending on the system in
use at the time, the number will relate the item to other items in a
sequence of numbers and you don't want to loose that association.) It will
be an indicator as to which of the two items was misnumbered at the outset.
Obviously the item that is not of the sequence would be the one that needs
to be researched for a correct number and/or renumbered. 

2) Check out any likely collections or number sequences to which one of the
items may belong, in case the double number is actually the result of a
transposition of numbers during the numbering process or of some other
numbering mistake.  If you don't, you may wind up with an item that has then
been given three numbers: the one it was supposed to have had, the one that
actually was written on it, and the new number you are giving it.

3)  If the above measures don't find a different correct number for one of
the two items, then I would highly recommend, if your system allows it,
keeping the number for both items and giving them decimal .1 and decimal .2,
making note in the records of both items (catalog card, or computer record,
etc.) that the decimal is a result of a double number problem.  That allows
you to have separate entries in most systems, yet neither item is completely
torn from whatever tenuous roots or clues the number provides, and if it was
the result of some mistake not yet found, it can more easily be tracked down
when that mistake is eventually discovered.

4) If you do have to renumber, I would caution strongly against making so
radical a change as giving an accession number from the current year, which
will skew the perception of those in the future about what year the item
arrived at the museum.  (This can be very important if you come across
similar items in the collection that have never been numbered (per recent
Museum-L thread) and are trying to sleuth donor origins.)

Sorry for the length of this reply --What I thought would be a simple answer
got complicated, as is, inherently, the problem of double numbers.
Volunteers working with me, having to correct double numbers a few times,
quickly get really, really conscientious about preventing them in the first
place!!

Good luck,
Lucy Sperlin
The Patrick Ranch
Chico, CA




-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Joshua
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 2:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: re-numbering

I am in a very similar situation.  I ran across one of these duplicate
number situations last week, but have not acted on it yet.  My idea was to
leave the number to the better documented item, and select the next
available accession number for that particular year.  Or would it be better
to use an accession number from the current year?  The objects I have
encountered with this particular problem are not marked, making the solution
a bit easier.   

Either way, I would document your final decision on the catalog card.

I would be interested in any replies on this topic, thank you.

Joshua K. Blay

-------------------------------------------------

"Those who would sacrifice a little Liberty for more Safety, deserve neither
Liberty nor Safety."  Benjamin Franklin


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Mary Agnes Beach
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 12:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] re-numbering

Hello Listers!  In sorting through records made over decades by a
combination of volunteers and one professional staff person, our current
staff is finding an assortment of problems we want to solve by current
standards.  The one we have on our plate now is that a number was assigned
twice.  I am able to determine that one item has better documentation and
thereby could perhaps lay claim more affirmatively to the number.  That
leaves the second item.  Do we treat the item as a new accession and give
it a number that reflects the current year? In addition, what would people
suggest we do in terms of documenting the change?  Feel free to contact me
off list if you prefer.

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