Hi Fiona,

At my last position, working for a collection of fine art, we used the
"Archives" function of PastPerfect to keep track of ephemeral material. The
data entry process goes by *much* quicker than doing full accessions on PP,
and you can organize records by file, drawer, box, etc. We kept a file for
each artist and cross-referenced materials so they were easy to access.

Feel free to contact me off-list if you have any questions.

Best,

--Molly

-- 

Molly Schoen
Information Resources Specialist
Visual Resources Collections
History of Art department
University of Michigan
734-764-0386

On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 3:53 PM, Harry G. Heiss
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Fiona,
>
> Other institutions no doubt can offer various ways to curate a collection
> of items of mixed provenance, so the way that we have chosen to do it here
> at the Public Debt History Center might not be the best way, or even the
> most appropriate way.
>
> As we were establishing the History Center a few years ago, we recognized
> that we had a lot of material with questionable or no known provenance.
>  Because that material was so voluminous, to accession each item
> individually, or to appraise the material item-by-item and then incorporate
> each separate item into other collections, would have been much too
> time-consuming.
>
> So we made the decision to create an artificial collection, with the
> generic name of *Public Debt History Collection*.  And as we continue to
> receive items anonymously and with no known provenance, or items that do
> not lend themselves to already established collections, that material is
> added to the Public Debt History Collection.
>
> In PastPerfect, we created a single catalog record for the entire Public
> Debt History Collection.  And when that collection is eventually processed,
> it will have a finding aid to guide us in locating specific items.
>
> Attached below is a descriptive entry for the Public Debt History
> Collection from our preliminary guide.
>
> I hope this is of some help.
>
> Take care,
>
> Harry
>
>
> Harry G. Heiss, Archivist
> Public Debt History Center
> Room W-104
> Bureau of the Public Debt
> Department of the Treasury
> 200 Third Street
> Parkersburg, WV 26101-5312
>
> [log in to unmask]
> 304.480.5335  [voice]
> 304.480.5334  [fax]
>
> "Be nice to the archivist, or she'll erase you from history."
>      --Anonymous
>
>
> [ attachment deleted by Museum listserv ]
>
>
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