Accessioning and Cataloguing: PastPerfect

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Accessioning and Cataloguing PastPerfect

• By Rachel E. Coleman

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Things to keep straight

• Donor (the person donating an object or a group
  of objects)
• Accession (a single donation it might be only
  one object, or it might be a large number of
  objects)
• Individual Object
• Accession Number (number given to an individual
  accession, i.e. 2009.10)
• Catalogue Number (number given to an individual
  object, i.e. 2009.10.03)

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The Process

• Following Rachel Coleman as she accessioned and
  catalogued an accession this past summer

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Initial Contact

• 1. A man named Jack Shropshire contacted
  Maria, expressing interest in donating an engine.
  

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Decision to accept

• 2. Maria and Michael talked, and decided that
  they would accept the engine.

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Informing of Acceptance

• 3. Maria sent a letter informing Mr.
  Shropshire that they would accept his engine and
  giving him instructions regarding sending it to
  the Museum.

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My Turn!

• 4. Maria then gave me all of the information
  Mr. Shropshire had given her about the engine,
  and told me that I would take over from there.

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After Receiving the DonationSending The Deed of
Gift

• 5. When the Museum received the engine in the
  mail, I sent Mr. Shropshire a letter informing
  him of his engines arrival. This letter included
  two copies of the deed of gift for him to sign,
  legally placing the engine into the Museums
  care.

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• January 27, 2009
•  
• Dear Mr. Shropshire
•  
• The spitfire engine that you are donating to the
  Museum arrived safe and sound on Monday, June
  2nd. Thank you for honoring us with this donation
  and for taking the time to see that it was mailed
  to us safely.
•  
• Since the engines arrival I have been working
  on the process of cataloging it in our
  collections. To finish this process I have
  included with this letter two copies of the Deed
  of Gift form. This is the form that legally
  transfers ownership of the artifact to the
  Museum. Please sign both copies and return them
  to me in the provided envelope. Once I receive
  them I will sign them and mail one back to you
  for your records. If you have any questions,
  please feel free to call me at (765)-287-1256
  ext. 508 or e-mail me at mariav_at_modelaircraft.org.
  
•  
• Thank you again for your donation of the
  spitfire engine. The Museum is dependant on
  generous donations such as the one that you are
  making. With your donation you are helping secure
  the story of model aviation for generations to
  come.
•  
• Sincerely,
•  
•  Maria K. VanVreede
• Registrar
• National Model Aviation Museum

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Donor and Accession Files

• 6. I created a donor file for Mr. Shropshire,
  and an accession file for the donation. I
  recorded the accession in Marias accession book,
  and gave the accession an accession number.

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Things to do on paper

• Accession Book each accession is recorded as it
  comes in accession number, date received, date
  processed, catalogue numbers included in the
  accession.
• Donor File this folder contains information on
  each donation that the donor has made, and all
  communication between the donor and the museum.
• Accession File this folder contains a copy of
  the catalogue files for each object in the
  accession, along with additional research, etc.,
  that there may be on any of the objects.

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Things to do on Computer (PastPerfect)

• Accession Record this includes information
  about the accession and is linked to the donor
  record, and to the catalogue records for each
  object in the accession.
• Donor Record this includes information about
  the donor and is linked to the accession record
  for each donation.
• Catalogue Record this includes information
  about an individual object, including
  description, storage location, condition, etc,
  and is linked to the record for the accession it
  is a part of.

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Accession Record in PastPerfect

• 7. I created an accession record in
  PastPerfect. I entered information about the
  donation and connected the record to Mr.
  Shropshires already existing Donor Record.

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Creating an accession record

• Accession Number
• Donor (and donor information address, etc)
• Short description of each item in the accession,
  along with their catalogue numbers
• Dates first contact, donations arrival, etc.
• Who entered this record
• PastPerfect will generate a deed of gift and form
  arrival and thank you letters from the
  information you enter in this record.

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Creating a donor record

• Once you have entered in all of the donor
  information (address, etc) once, you need not do
  it again, even if you have another accession from
  the same donor.
• When you click to view the donor information, the
  program will list all of the donations he has
  made, along with their accession numbers.

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Catalogue RecordIn PastPerfect

• 8. Next, I gave the engine a catalogue number
  and created a catalogue record in PastPerfect for
  the engine.

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Creating a catalogue record

• The PastPerfect catalogue record will include
• Collection (this category will thus link all
  items in a given collection)
• Object ID (catalogue )
• Source (donor)
• Credit Line (if the person who actually owned the
  item died, and his wife wants to donate it, this
  line would give him credit)
• Home location (where the item lives permanently)
• Object name, Category, and Subcategory (This is a
  way of organizing all objects across all museums
  so that searches, etc, are easier)
• Other Name (this is only filled in if another
  name will make the item more searchable to the
  museum possessing it)
• Dimensions
• Image
• Description (very brief and to the point)
• General (this section records what the item is
  made of, when it was used, and other general
  information)
• Legal/Related (Legal any legal issues. Related
  any objects that are intimately related to it)
• Condition (detailed record of the objects
  condition when it arrived, and at varying points
  since)
• Location (has the item been removed for
  cleaning?)
• Notes (any additional information needed)

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Classification

• Museums that use paper records only often record
  the catalogue record on a 5X8 card and then file
  the cards by their classification (chair, teapot,
  etc).
• Today, museums use a universal system of
  nomenclature, thus eliminating confusion.
• Today, many museums use computerized databases
  like PastPerfect. These allow for searching and
  organizing objects by thier classification, thus
  serving as a more efficient version of the old
  paper card file.

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Important information

• It is critically important to make sure to fill
  out the catalogue record completely and
  accurately. Anything important to know about the
  object should be recorded. It is the catalogue
  record that makes the object valuable without
  it, the object would have no provenance or
  meaning.

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Tagging and storage

• 9. I attached the engines catalogue number
  with a paper tag and wrote the number on the
  engine with a pencil. I thenplaced the engine in
  storage.
• Different museums use different systems for
  tagging. Some use paper tags, others paint or
  draw the number on the object, etc. It often
  depends on the nature of the object.

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Completing the deed of gift

• 10. When I received the signed deeds of gift
  in the mail from Mr. Shropshire, I had Maria, as
  registrar, sign them both.

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Thank you Letter

• 11. I then sent one copy of the deed of gift
  back to Mr. Shropshire, along with a thank-you
  letter and a pamphlet of information about
  becoming a Museum Patron.

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• Dear Jack Shropshire
•  
• Thank you again for donating your model engine.
  This engine is an excellent addition to the
  museum's collection, because we only have two
  Anderson Spitfires in our collection at the
  moment, and neither is this specific make. As
  part of our program for preserving aeromodelling
  artifacts, items are rotated on and off exhibit
  to give the item a chance to rest. Because of
  this I can not promise that the engine will be on
  permanent display, but it will always be
  available to researchers in our storage area.
•  
• If you have some time in the near future, I
  would appreciate it if you could possibly write
  down some information on the history of the
  engine. Having this type of information in the
  files for the objects helps us and researchers
  when performing research and writing exhibit
  labels. Anything that you feel is important for
  us to know about the item can also be sent to me
  to place in the file. If you have any questions,
  please contact me at 765-287-1256, ext. 508.
•  
• Enclosed with this letter is the final copy of
  the Deed of Gift form. Please keep this form for
  your records. Also enclosed with this letter is
  an application for the Museum's Patron program.
  This program offers several benefits for you, and
  directly supports the Museum as we work to
  preserve the history of model aviation.
•  
• Thank you again. It is only with the help of
  generous people like yourself that the museum is
  able to succeed.
•  
• If you are ever in the Muncie area, please visit
  the Museum and say "hello."
•  
• Sincerely,
•   
• Maria K. VanVreede
• Registrar

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Filing the information Donor File

• 12. I placed the other copy of the deed of
  gift into the donor file along with a copy of the
  arrival letter and thank you letter and the
  original correspondence Maria had had with Mr.
  Shropshire about the engine.

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Filing the informationaccession file

• 13. Finally, I placed a copy of the deed of
  gift into the accession file along with a copy of
  the catalogue record and other information we had
  about the engine.

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The Final Result

• Accession and Catalogue
• Accession Book
• Donor File
• Accession File
• PastPerfect
• Accession Record
• Donor Record
• Catalogue Record

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For Safekeeping

• I gave a copy of the engines catalogue record
  and accession record, both printed off of
  PastPerfect, to Maria to send elsewhere for
  safekeeping in case something happens to
  PastPerfect and the paper records kept in the
  museum.

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• And thats all there is to it!
• Easy, right?!?

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The End