My advice would be don't renumber!   (unless you really really have to.)

The main purpose of the accession number should uniquely identify the object within you collections.  Unless you have two (or more) existing numbering systems which can be confused I would advise against changing any existing numbers.

Although the most commonly used accession numbering form is 2009.123 where 123 is a sequential number that is restarted each year, any other system which gives each object a unique number will work.  The "standard" system has some advantages - from looking at the number you can see the year the object was acquired - in a manual system it reduces the chance of accidental duplications.

You say you are using a computerised system.  If this records the date of the deed of gift then the fact that accession number is different by a year will not cause you any practical problems that I can see.

If you do renumber you need to change the number marked on the object, the number on your computer system, the number on all your paper records.  If you have any published catalogues or research papers which use the old number you still need to keep a concordance of the old and new numbers in case you get any enquiries using the old number.  You should also make sure that your new numbers don't duplicate your old numbers.  All in all you are making yourself a lot of work for no real benefit!

By all means change the way the numbering works from now on.

Just a final word on dates on Deeds of Gift and the date of Accessioning.  Although these may often be the same date they don't have to be (for example in 1930 you were donated a desk for the use of the museum director, in 1990 you get new office furniture but decide that the 1930 desk is an important piece of furniture and should form part of the museum collection).

Trevor Reynolds, Registrar
English Heritage, 36 Hospital Fields Road, York, YO10 4DZ
+44 (0) 1904 610322
________________________________________
From: Museum discussion list [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Julie Blood [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 17 April 2009 18:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Question about renumbering collections

I am currently in the process of renumbering the collection at my museum and am looking for some guidance.  My question is, should the date on the Deed of Gift be the year for the accession number?  For example I have a DoG that is dated December 14, 1998, but the accession number begins with the year 1999 because it wasn’t entered into the computer until January 13, 1999.  My understanding is that the date of the Deed of Gift should be used as the accession number because it is when the museum officially gained ownership of the artifact.  This is a recurring problem throughout the collection, besides the fact that the previous collections manager continued the second set of the number throughout the years, for example: if 1998 ended with 1998.121, the next year started up as 1999.122.  I am trying to fix this to make everything standard.  Any suggestions and input on this would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Julie


Julie Blood

Collections and Exhibit Manager

San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum
P.O. Box 30, Lodi, CA 95241
(209) 331-2055
(209) 953-3460
[log in to unmask]
www.sanjoaquinhistory.org

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