Lisa and List--many years ago I came into the aftermath of a major move
(56,000+ ethnographic, historic, & archeological artifacts) where the
objects had not been inventoried beforehand. The people who had done the
packing & moving were no longer on staff. The accession numbers were listed
on the outside of the numbered boxes (e.g. "Spain #1: 29691/23-47"), but if
there ever was a box list I've never seen it. The North American & Asian
collections were already unpacked when I arrived, as well as most of the
historical material. It took years to unpack and sort the rest out. [Let me
mention that we were installing 3 major exhibit halls, one after another,
simultaneous with unpacking.]
Please, for the sake of your future sanity & that of your successors, do an
inventory & box list. List not only where the box gets put, but what's in
each box. Make a clean master list, with copies to hand out to helpers. If
you can take the time beforehand, it'll save you many times that afterward.
Feel free to contact me directly if you want to discuss your move. Good
luck.
Deborah G. Harding
Collection Manager
Section of Anthropology
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
412-665-2608
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa Dunbar [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 12:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Moving collection
Hi,
I am starting a new job soon at a different museum. My first major project
will be to move the collection from one off-site storage area to another.
I am looking for suggestions on how to go about doing this in an organized
fashion. I was thinking of labelling all of the shelving units
(ex. "Kitchen 1" or "Tools 1") and that each box on that shelving unit
should have the same designation (ex. "Kitchen 1 Box 1 of 20") so that I
will know just where to put the box when moved to the new site. Also,
though there is currently no location code for the present storage area,
each box has a list on it of all of the items within it, along with
accession number. Is it necessary that I do a complete inventory of every
object in the collection at this time, or just count the boxes and
inventory the larger objects that are not in boxes for purposes of moving?
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Lisa
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