I’ve sent this to Stephanie offline, but thought it might be useful to others.
Stephanie,
Sounds more like an organizational project. I too manage have object collections, archives, library and on top of that, objects for living history interpretation and farming. But over the years have learned archives
etc. I am also a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, so familiar with archival organization. Anyway, your situation is not unusual. I have had the same problem. It is going to take some time to organize the objects outside the boxes but
referenced to the paper materials. I have a suggestion that may very well help just to start.
1)
I believe SB stands for Storage Box, but that’s beside the point. Number the SB and EMB consecutively. If the SBs are 1-25, then renumber the EMBs 26 to whatever. This will give you a base to start
for reorganization.
2)
Box lists of general content inside each box as well as in PP…will assist with starting a finding aid and eventually cross referencing items that cannot be stored together. And secure an idea of what
was there originally.
3)
Past Perfect in the Archival collection screen will accept the Series Box number. So, you can enter SB25 and EMB26 as a ‘group’ in a box, then describe the general contents. As you go along looking
at items and papers, you will discover that many of the items may ‘go with’ the papers. i.e. tickets and a ticket puncher. So as you go along, objects will have to be stored in different boxes with ‘go with’ cross reference in the records. The objects,
if desirable to your collection, can be cataloged in the Objects section of PP with cross referenced ‘See SB24’ in description to tie it to the archival material.
4)
MOST important, Always make sure you write down the procedure for what you are doing with these box collections. So someone else can pick up the pattern and continue this work. Keep in mind, the
same museum standards apply to manuscripts and books, and depends on your mission and scope.
Sure, maybe you’ll end up with more or less boxes, and you may find objects or papers that don’t fit your mission or collection scope. I know after 28 years in the collection game, and working with older places
where the tracking was not best, there’s no law that says you have to number it all. Not even the artifacts. Until you’re sure you’re keeping it… Tracking is key. At this point, seems like ‘stuff in boxes’ so tracking through boxes, lists and photo lists
is probably best bet.
Good luck with your project, please feel free to contact me anytime if you want to bounce off ideas or have a question.
All the best,
Cheryl Stoeber-Goff, Museum Curator
Historic Services Division
Monmouth County Park System
Ph: 732-975-9747 Fx: 732-975-9748
805 Newman Springs Rd, Lincroft, NJ 07738