George -- SAA also has a museum archivists listserv. More information is at http://www.archivists.org/listservs/index.asp. The archivists would be happy to tell you how they do things if you query. At my former institution, a small museum, the same numbering scheme was used for both artifacts and archival materials. (Archival materials have traditionally been thought of as paper-based materials -- correspondence, advertisements, newspaper clippings, catalogs, pamphlets, photographs, ledger books, etc. However, now we've got electronic records too. There are functional definitions of archives that you can read about.) In other words, the accession numbers were all sequential, no matter if the item was an artifact or archival, because one person handled all accessioning. This practice is not done at all museums though, particularly when there is a separate archivist who actively collects material separate from the curator. In the archives world, whole collections are numbered when accessioned. (e.g., One accession number would be given to the "Jane Smith papers"). With artifacts, individual items are given their own accession numbers. However, say someone donates just one photo, it would have its own accession number. For a melange of unrelated archival items that won't stay together as a collection (e.g., one photograph, one catalog, a few letters, and one advertisement, all having no significance as a group), each item (or set of items) could be given its own accession number. I think you should decide what's best for your situation, and feel free to query the museum archivists listserv. Good luck developing your policies. I recommend SAA's Basic Manual Series (there is even one booklet in the series for museum archives) and SAA's Archival Fundamental Series. Individual titles can be ordered through SAA Publications and can often be found in larger libraries, particularly university libraries. Hope this helps. Sincerely, Vicki Vicki Meehan Myers-Lenahan Archivist Medical Hertitage Center The Ohio State University -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lesley Humphreys Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 10:14 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Assigning numbers / defining an archive collection Hi, George! I've found the SSA, The Society of American Archivists (http://www.archivists.org/) to be very helpful in learning about processing archival collections. They have excellent publications. Good luck and congratulations on your job! Lesley Humphreys ----------------------- Lesley L. Humphreys Exhibition Coordinator Maryland Historical Society 201 West Monument St. Baltimore, MD 21201 www.mdhs.org ========================================================= 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). ========================================================= 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).