Hello Jennifer Having worked most of my career in very small museums, I sympathize with your present plight/opportunity. In my last position, I had the luxury/difficulty of starting from scratch with cataloging. I went with the most we could afford for our initial data base. At that time Museum Collection Management System was my choice. Several museums in our region had purchased it and the ones that were using it were happy with the system. Seven years later we switched to past perfect in large part because of their support system. I am now at another institution and temporarily working with a "data base" based on Microsoft Access. From my experience I would advise going with one of the programs tailored for museums. MCMS and Past Perfect made sense to me as a museum professional. Access is hard on your eyes and your body for data entry and does only a small section of what MCMS and Past Perfect did. I see no way of anyone in a small museum having enough time to tailor-make a respectable collections management system from the "data base" software that I've seen. Past Perfect is reasonably priced and accommodates standard museum terminology. The only things I did not like about my limited experience with it was that photographs, books, and objects were cataloged in separate parts of the program and that the program did not automatically assign numbers. Because of a grant, I was able to spend a day at a museum that used the first system we purchased. There I volunteered for data entry and got a feel for the program. I was removed from regular interruptions and had two experienced people to answer questions. Perhaps you could arrange something similar. >>> [log in to unmask] 10/31/01 08:59AM >>> Greetings! I am facing the daunting challenge of placing my museum's collection on database and am wondering which program to use. We have around 7,000 pieces in our historic home including furniture, objects of art, and everything else you might find in such a museum, such as the original light fixtures, draperies, and other items. We want to access a piece by number, by medium, by its location, etc. and have a photo and various registration information on the page. I have heard pros and cons for Filemaker and PastPerfect and am wondering what success any of you have had with these or others. Any comments would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to respond off-list. Thanks in advance! Jennifer Lancaster Curator/Archivist Chinqua-Penn Plantation ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).