Open Forum

Good morning,

This is for all the collections managers out there. Please forgive my ignorance, but if I am cataloging boxes of glass slides--as in slides from early 20th century educational lectures--does each box get an overall number and then each slide is a subset within that number? Does that mean each slide has a number on it? Or is a description of the box and its content plus the number of slides inside acceptable?

Thanks so much.

Joan Baldwin

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Joan Baldwin
Curator-Special Collections - The Hotchkiss School
Lakeville CT
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Each slide should have a number, with the box also having a number which refers to/includes its contents as well.  The reasoning for this is that slides can and may be removed, and you will need a way to track that piece when it is not with its "family".

Obviously, number it in the way that the rest of your collection's works are done, but creating an example of the way that I would number these:

100.001  (title line: box and its contents)

100.001.01 (slide #1, title line: subject matter of this slide)

100.001.02 (slide #2, title line: subject matter of this slide)

and so on...

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Beth Savage
New York NY
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Hi Joan,

I agree with Beth - ideally, each slide should have a unique identification number related to its box number, since it is desirable for image materials (photographs, negatives, slides, etc.) to be cataloged down to the item level. The answer may also depend on if you adhere to museum cataloging standards or archival cataloging standards - there are slight variations.

Practically, your decision should also be based on how many slides are in each box, how many boxes you have to catalog, and the priority level of this particular slide collection. If it is a very large collection and low-priority, then a description of each box contents including the number of slides inside is acceptable at this point, especially if your system is more archival.

Good luck!

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Amy Kelch
Prescott AZ
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