New Accession Process

This document describes the process for admitting a new item into our collection records. This also applies to items found in the museum but with no record of their existence in our system.

New accessioning is a complex and protected process; do not act on the instructions below before talking with the Director.

Get validation of the new accession

The process of admitting an item to our collection involves legal processes, safety and cost evaluations, and consideration of strategic fit. The Collection Management Policy is the guiding policy for this process. Validation (formal approval) of a new accession must be provided by the Director or Curator; in some cases, they will also request approval by the Board of Directors (for example, if there are ongoing cost obligations related to the accession).

Verify "newness"

For items found in the Museum displays but with no accession number marked on them, please search extensively in the Omeka records and the Google Sheet database to find an existing accession record. We must avoid duplicate accession records.

Generate a new accession number

When a new item (or lot of items) is approved to be accessioned, official accession identification numbers are generated. Only individuals directly authorized by the Director may create new accession numbers. The first time you do this, please do it with the Director, or have the Director review the entry before proceeding with others.

1. Do not create a new accession number until you are ready to make the matching Omeka records at the same time. If you do not know how to create collections, finding aids, and item records in Omeka, you should learn those steps prior to generating new accession numbers.
2. The official registry and list of GHM accession numbers is held in a Google Sheet spreadsheet in the GHM Google Drive. Access to this form is given to authorized people by the Director.
3. in the Google Sheet, pressing the “New” button opens a Google Form for assignment of a new accession number.
4. In the Google Form, carefully enter the appropriate new ID number, following our GHM ID structure. For reference, the last ID number and item description is displayed in the Sheet.
5. Provide a clear title for the item or group of items.
6. Submit the form.
7. Repeat for each item in the group.

Create matching Omeka records

Finally, create the matching Omeka records: a Collection and finding aid if appropriate, and individual item records for each accessioned item.