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           [log in to unmask] "Scheffel" writes:
> ...
> Now, we are looking for
> * examples for numbering systems (accession numbers, catalogue numbers...)
> * examples for the most horrible old accession numbers, a computer has ever
> refused to sort correctly.
>
> It would be a very big help for us, if you could send me examples of your own
> museum work.
*NOT* my own work, but possibly the worst example of practice I've ever
seen, was a curator earlier this century at Buckinghamshire County
Museum who decided to give each group of objects a collection name, and
then each object a number within the group.  At about the same time,
he gave up using the accession register, and simply kept a copy,
sometimes, of the thank-you note.
However, the name he gave to the collection wasn't the donor, nor
the collector/excavator/owner - it was the name of the person
who brought it to the museum.  Many of the people who owned
motor-cars in early Bucks seem to have had surnames that are also
professions.

It is not uncommon to come across an object in the stores with
the label 'Brewer 7' - but it is a cobbler's tool, and possibly one
used by a Mr Jones, and given to the museum by his daughter Mrs Brooks.

The computer system (MODES plus) has no problems coping with the numbers.
--
Patricia Reynolds
Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum,
Museum Training Supervisor, Bletchley Park and Freelance Curator

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