Never used Musarch, but I just looked through a couple videos and documentation.  As an archivist, here’s the off-putting part (from their documentation):

 

“The Museum Archive software package is based on the idea that everything in your collection is an Object. Other museum database products might approach things in a different manner, but I took the approach that everything should go into a single pile (with enough categories and classifications associated with an Object to sort things out). Obviously, pile is not a technical term...”

 

From an archives point of view, while we certainly do have individual objects, we generally don’t “catalog” that way – we use a hierarchical structure to describe them.  If you are not going to do a complete cataloging of the documents, then this probably won’t matter.  I’m happy to answer questions off-list if you have them. 

 

Good luck!

 

Greg

 

Gregory A. Jackson, CA

Bryn Athyn Historic District Archives

www.glencairnmuseum.org

267.502.2421

 

 

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathleen Scarlett O'Hara Naylor
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2015 10:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Accessioning personal papers

 

Thanks, all. I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that accessioning the papers as a collection or at least in lots would be preferable. 

 

Greg, we're creating paper accession records as well as using the free version of the Museum Archive software (http://www.musarch.com/).

 

Thanks,

Kathleen

 

On Mon, Aug 10, 2015 at 8:23 AM, Jackson, Gregory <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Kathleen,

 

Even though there isn’t an archives, the papers should be accessioned as a collection and described that way.  Could you provide a little more information regarding your accession process?  Are you using museum software?  A database? Paper? 

 

Greg

 

Gregory A. Jackson, CA

Bryn Athyn Historic District Archives

www.glencairnmuseum.org

267.502.2421

 

 

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathleen Scarlett O'Hara Naylor
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2015 10:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Accessioning personal papers

 

I've recently begun volunteering at a small local history museum, and am working on accessioning a collection of family papers from a local family. In places I've worked previously, these would have been made part of an archives and accessioned as a collection, not individual documents. Since this museum doesn't have an archival collection, what is the proper way to deal with a collection like this in an object collection? Should each piece of paper be accessioned as an individual object, or are there less cumbersome ways to go about it, such as giving a single ID number to the collection as a whole, or assigning numbers to groups of papers (e.g. 2 dozen receipts from the local market)?

 

Thanks,

Kathleen O'Hara

 

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

 

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

 

 

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


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