Hi -

I first want to commend you for taking on this monumental task.  Reading
about what the museums in Katrina's wake had to go through to not only
survive, but to rebuild is way beyond the everyday registrar duties.

Our museum was built 30 years after the college's collection began.  There
was very minimal paperwork relating to when works were acquired, and the
numbering system duplicated itself from one collection or type of work to
the next.  The only difference in accession numbers was when it was a
sculpture it had the letter "S" before the number.

We had just acquired Past Perfect and in talking with their tech support we
came up with a system using the year all works were transferred to our
building as the starting number - so that was 1991. The next set of numbers
related to type of collection.  Inuit prints were 001; Inuit sculptures
were 002, etc.  As I am still finding objects and we are still receiving
gifts, there comes a time when you have to go back and forth as to the
numbering systems, but you get used to it.

I agree with Lucy and the others and would not begin with 2014.  Hurricane
Katrina is your benchmark and I would use that year as your starting
point.  The "old number" idea from John is also a good thing to follow.
Past Perfect has a location for "old numbers" which is handy for cross
referencing.  If your program doesn't have that, then be consistent and
make note somewhere in your data entry of any old and/or partial numbers
you might find.

Take pictures of each numbered piece and be sure to save a copy somewhere
offsite....just in case.  And be patient.  A friend from The DIA in Detroit
gave me some advise when I first began, telling me that I don't have to
complete each object to it's fullest before going on to the next object.
Just get a number on them, take a photo, some description, and a location,
and then move to the next.  It won't seem so overwhelming.  You can always
go back.

Best of luck

Kim H. Hanninen, Registrar
Dennos Museum Center
1701 East Front Street
Traverse City, Michigan 49686
p 231.995.1574 (direct)
p 231.995-1055
f 231-995-1597
[log in to unmask]
www.dennosmuseum.org




On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 11:31 AM, William Denius <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I recently began volunteering for a museum that lost all of its accession
> records and many artifacts from Hurricane Katrina. In all honestly I'm at a
> loss for where to begin.  I know I should start with the exhibited items,
> but I'm not sure what to do with accession numbers since many identifying
> tags and all of the records are lost.  Should I begin with the current
> year, as in 2014.xx.x? How should I make groups for items? Should they be
> grouped as similar items or grouped by exhibit?
>
> The issues go deeper than accessioning, but this museum has been told that
> they have a minimum of 5 years of work ahead just to get organized.
> Basically, this museum is starting over and the whole place is a MESS. I'm
> writing a collections management policy, accession forms, loan agreements,
> condition reports, etc. for this museum.  I also plan to work on a disaster
> management plan.
>
> Needless to say, I'm a bit overwhelmed.  Any advice would be greatly
> appreciated!
>
> William Denius
>
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-- 
Kim H. Hanninen, Registrar
Dennos Museum Center
1701 East Front Street
Traverse City, Michigan 49686
p 231.995.1574 (direct)
p 231.995-1055
f 231-995-1597
[log in to unmask]
www.dennosmuseum.org

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