Hi Jakob,
I agree with all the excellent advice you already got (and thank you Janice, for the plug for my book :-) ).
There will also be a free Connecting to Collections Care Webinar in September about this topic, but of course you have to start now.
I wanted to add that whatever you do, remember in the first step to take more photos and touch less things, so you can always get back to those photos if there are parts lost or re-appearing and you need to find out to which machinery they belong. Along with the value as a working tool the photos will be very helpful for showing your progress to higher-ups.
Whatever you do, don't let anybody hasten your actions. This is a marathon, not a sprint and working steps carefully planned beforehand will safe you a lot of time in the long run.
Personal note: my faithful security boots with steel toe protection and sole saved my feet more than once when working with agricultural collections. And leather gloves come in handy if you encounter an agressive rodent down there in the piles.
Best of luck!
Angela
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Angela Kipp
Depotleiterin / Collections Manager
TECHNOSEUM
Mannheim, Germany
angela.kipp@museumsprojekte.deJoin the Regisrar Trek at
http://world.museumsprojekte.deTwitter: @RegistrarTrek
Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2016 07:43 AM
From: Carrie Bowers
Subject: Large Artifact Storage Re-Organization and Arrangment
I agree with David Beard's approach; this is your opportunity to really wrap your hands and your brain around the collection. A full inventory, though it will be tedious will be a great boon to the institution and to your career. Also this is your time to do a baseline inventory with photographs and basic descriptions, and tagging (even if it doesn't have an obvious accession number, I tag items to track them as a Found in Collection (FIC) number). If it's not done already storage units should be numbered in a simple system so that you can track movements and placement of items. Our system is based on the acronym BRUSS (Building/Room/Unit/Section/Shelf) to create a 5 digit location code; it seems a bit much at times, but we also have 11 storage buildings. Create a simple Excel spreadsheet database to track the items -- even paper worksheets to use if you can't bring computers into the storage areas.
Take your time and keep the staff updated as much as possible.
Good luck!
- Carrie
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Carrie Bowers
Museum Specialist
National Museum of the Marine Corps
Triangle VA