"I have stayed silent on this issue because I am undecided and I wanted to get the views of others. I am in a situation where many objects received no accession number, catalogue number or even a note in a record book anywhere. Objects have been dropped off because it is known we accept local artists work. And the acquisitions and cataloguing department does not really know what to do with non-text material. Previously, everything was given a dewey number, regardless of the object in question. Recently, we discovered some wonderful glass negatives, and lanternslides dating from approx. 1880 to 1920 and the camera with which many were taken. No paperwork is found, just a scrawled name on a box. We are publishing a couple of tabletop books and have had 2 copies of prints made. Due to the nature of our facility, these prints will get a number that will be the same as the slides. They will not be copy one two and three because the slides are not the same as the prints, they may be an a, b, and c. We work with a library cataloguing system and each object (for the sake of inventory) must have a call number and a barcode. 

To be honest, it is a lot of work, but once it is done, it may never have to be done again. I see the benefit of, at the very least, assigning a number and creating some type of a paper trail as to what these objects are. Our facility has never had an archivist, curator or registrar before and since 1911 objects have stockpiled. Art (in many forms), cuneiform tablets, civil war artifacts, rare books, you name it, we have it! And I have the lucky job if sorting through it all, but once I am done and the system of acquisitioning is in place, life will be much easier for all who are involved with these objects.

Shawn M Weisser