Robert, I couldn't agree more!  I inherited a similar situation to the
one you describe below, although thankfully on a *much* smaller scale.
The collection for years was an ad hoc function of the college art
department, so recordkeeping was erratic depending on what professor was
in charge of it and how sophisticated they were about those things.
It took me years to untangle the collection records, and there still remain
mystery objects (what are they?  where did they come from?) and other
collection enigmas that will probably never be solved.  The most
dramatic discovery I made was that the three pieces of broken marble
in the storage area was actually a sculpture listed in the collection
records as missing.  After spending $400 on restoration it was worth
$32,000!  I'm sure when it initially broke the person who put it in
storage knew what it was, but once he or she was gone, the people who
came after didn't have a clue.

Having gone through this leaves me with great empathy for my future successor,
whoever that may be :-), so with everything I do I ask myself if there's
enough documentation for someone else to figure out what I've done and why.

--Helen Glazer, Exhibitions Director
Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, USA
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On Wed, 4 Dec 1996, Robert A. Baron wrote:

> Sally brings up a more important point, that is, the importance of memory
> when working with collections.  While no collection manager can work well
> without having an intimate knowledge of the collection, and certainly will
> have memorized the accession numbers and other data pertaining to key
> objects, the science of systematics is predicated on the fact that
> knowledge of collections is fleeting.  People die, and with them pass into
> the ether important bodies of knowledge.  A good documentation system
> encourages collection managers and curators to document their knowledge so
> that others after them will be able to take advantage of their accumulated
> knowledge and expertise.
>
> I know of a university museum with a collection of around 35 thousand
> objects that has no object location and storage data preserved in files.
> The collection managers just know where any object is to be found -- most
> often.  Such a collection is in a precarious state of documentation,
> dependent upon the availability of the individuals who know it.  Memory may
> be fine for everyday needs, but documentation is needed for the eternity.