Concerning numbering Objects:

I could not agree with Stuart more!  The idea is to maintain a clear idea of
what distinct and unique function the object number is to serve.  If you
successfully limit that to "Providing a unique number to associate
documentation with a single object (or lot of objects)" then you are in good
standing to maintain accurate records.  As soon as the Object Number starts
being used to serve other purposes, such as identifying Donor or Category or
other attributes, then you will invite problems, without fail.  As Stuart
said: all those other attributes are subject to change as our knowledge of
the collection evolves.  The Object Number should be Permanent.

To make this easier, modern high speed computers running current database
software easily provide multiple ways of describing and cataloguing your
collection.  Searching for objects given or lent by a particular donor, or
acquired in a given year, or which are (currently) categorized as, say,
sculptures are the sort of tasks easily and quickly accomplished by
contemporary collections management systems.  You need to dedicate other
fields in your database to recording all these other bits of data; avoid
folding them into some multi-purpose Object Number.

Stuart mentions the tendency of curators to cling to the Year.# approach.
We, like many museums, use a Year.Lot.# approach to devising Object Numbers.
But do not confuse this as an attempt to "code into the object number" some
indication of the Source(Donor/Lender) of the lot.  It is simply a means of
providing the Registrar with time to assign numbers to large lots of work
coming into the museum without holding up the numbering of subsequent lots.

Good luck conveying all this to your superior.
-S.
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      Stephen B. Ringle, Registrar             [log in to unmask]
      University of Maine Museum of Art
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