[Nhcoll-l] Number removal upon deaccessioning

[John E Simmons]

Thanks for mentioning the deaccessioning workshop, Patti.

Just to clarify--I do agree that accession and/or catalog numbers should
never, ever, be re-used (after all, the supply of numbers is infinite...!).

Whether an accession number or catalog number should be removed from a
specimen or object is a bit more nuanced. We didn't have time in the
webinar to get into the fine details, but my position is as follows:

If the specimen or object is going to go to another museum, in almost all
cases you should leave the number on it as it makes it far easier to track
it down in the future, long after everyone has forgotten the details of the
deacession and transfer. However, if the specimen or object is to be sold
or destroyed, I would in almost all cases remove any accession or catalog
numbers. There are several reasons for this. One is that the presence of
the number makes the object or specimen appear to still belong to your
institution when, in fact, you no longer own it, which can be confusing.
Another is that this evidence that the object or specimen was once in a
museum affects the price (usually makes it worth a lot more). A third
reason is that leaving the number on may make it appear as though your
institution is selling specimens or objects just to make money
(deacessioning as a collections management tool is rarely understood by
non-museum folks).

In natural history museums in particular, specimens are normally
deaccessioned only for trade or exchange to another museum. In this case,
leaving the original accession and/or catalog numbers attached is important
for keeping track of the specimen (over the years I have worked in museums
I have several times seen specimens with multiple catalog tags on them,
making it easy to trace their history). For some kinds of specimens (e.g.,
amphibians and reptiles) the catalog tag usually just bears a number and
museum identifier and can be replaced if needed, but for some other kind of
specimens (e.g., birds or mammals) the catalog tag may carry original
information and must be treated as an archival document and not be
destroyed.

A couple of museums I have worked with have had the misfortune to discover
that objects they deacessioned wound up for sale by a third party on eBay
or similar sites listed as "from the collection of X museum," which does
nobody any good and usually reflects badly on the museum that deacessioned
the object.

--John


John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 1:27 PM, Leslie L Skibinski <lls94 at cornell.edu>
wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
>
>
> What does your institutional policy say about “removing” your institutions
> catalog or accession numbers from specimens when you deaccession
> something?  Do you remove or gesso over the number?  Do you draw a line
> through it?  Do you do nothing to the number?
>
>
>
> Do you have different procedures if you are disposing of the material in
> different ways (i.e. transfer to another institution vs destruction, etc.)?
>
>
>
> If you are transferring it to another institution and you have obliterated
> the number on the object, do you also take the number off the label?  If
> you do, how do you ensure the information on the label/the label itself
> stays with the specimen?  Do you remove the label and lose provenance or do
> you keep the label with the specimen?
>
>
>
> Any insights, examples or literature citations would be appreciated.
>
>
>
> Leslie L. Skibinski
>
> Collection Manager
>
> Paleontological Research Institution
>
> 1259 Trumansburg Road
>
> Ithaca, New York  14850
>
>
>
> Ph.  (607) 273-6623  ext. 28
>
> Fax:  (607) 273-6620
>
>
>
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