No Data No Rocks

Very early on in my career as a registrar, I learned the importance of always collecting and recording all the data related to an object in an acquisition. A natural sciences colleague of mine even had a hat made that read “No Data No Rocks.” This hat was made to combat the inevitable occurrence of staff bringing in rocks collected for the geology collection without even  a scrap of paper or note indicating where the rock had come from. Without the collecting data this rock became nothing more than a dusty paperweight. Without the geographical context, this rock was just a rock. Of course the collector (sometimes a curator or sometimes a geologist) would say they had this information in their heads and would write it down later. When things got busy and later never came, this was a problem. After years of this a heavy box of orphan rocks accumulated never to be cataloged, taking up space, with sadly no chance of ever entering the collection.  

The data is the story and years later when I taught collections management to museum studies students I used this phrase to teach the importance of always collecting the data, the story, and the history of an object. Perhaps you were a curator that located the pen that Amelia Earhart used to write and file her last flight plan before she disappeared over the Pacific.  You bring in this pen and hand it to the registrar with no information or paperwork. Without the story this is just a pen and is likely going to be cataloged and relegated to the storage room with all the rest of the office equipment collection, never to be seen again. With the data, however, it remains an important part of history forever.  

So what can you do? Write everything down, however insignificant you think the information is, and record it in your database. Keeping notes of your conversation with a donor or artist is key. Taking photographs of the locations and surroundings where you collected that specimen is a quick and easy way to gather information.  Using CatalogIt is a great way to ensure you capture everything you need. Don’t have time to catalog? Scan or photograph your notes and upload them into your record. Do the same with all correspondence, gift agreements, invoices and upload them quickly and easily into CatalogIt as well. Upload as many images and documents as you would like into the record. Create a tag for items you need to catalog more fully and use those images and documents later to add all the information you need. This way everything you need is in one place and you don’t have to rely on memory to ensure the history of objects in your collection live on forever.