Collection Documentation - The process of documenting the collections is time consuming and ongoing, but is vital to the smooth running of the service. This is an update on progress. Since January 2000 and the appointment of a dedicated member of staff to documentation, staff and volunteers at the City Museum have been working on a number of documentation projects.

A complete inventory of the costume collection was undertaken before the collection was repacked and returned to store. The information gathered during the compilation of the inventory has been cross referenced with the accession registers and used to complete museum documentation catalogue cards.

A similar exercise was carried out with the domestic collection at the Museum of Local life. Again Museum staff worked with volunteers to clear the existing store, which was refurbished with extra shelving. The collection was cleaned and labelled, and an inventory was made. The information was transferred to catalogue cards and divided into categories to aid access to the collections.

Other inventories are currently being compiled by staff and volunteers on the ceramics, paper ephemera, photographs, postcards, theatre ephemera and Egyptology collections.

The next stage in the collection documentation process is the transfer of information onto ‘Adlib’, the museum’s computerised database. To date information on the Natural History and Geology collections together with the collection of the Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry have been transferred. The database will not only help staff provide better management of the collections, but also in the future facilitate wider public access. Future projects for collection documentation include the development of an image bank. Images will be linked to the database so that the selection of objects for research or display can be made on the screen. The need to handle objects unnecessarily is thus reduced, assisting in their conservation for future generations whilst the information about them is more widely available.

Archaeology - Art - Ethnology - Geology - Natural History - Social History
Worcestershire Regiment - Worcestershire Yeomanry