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 ] > > > ______________________________________________ > > *The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any > position of the Government or my agency.* > *Use of this equipment is permitted by the agency’s policy governing > limited personal use.* > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > ========================================================= 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).