Accession Registers

An accession register is the permanent record of all objects which are, or have been, part of the museum's permanent collections. It is the most important document in the museum's documentation system. Each item should have a unique object number, a short description, details of acquisition and date acquired.

From the beginning in 1903, the museum kept records of objects added to the permanent collection but the objects were not given unique object numbers during the first 50 years.

Two purposely designed registers were purchased in 1932, one for recording exhibits received for permanent collection [md4] and the other for recording exhibits received on loan or lent by subcommittee [md5].
The headings for each entry are Description of exhibit – Date received – Gift or purchase – From whom received – Value if known - Condition or other Remarks – Date entered into inventory.
The only thing missing is a unique object number.

In 1955 a Kalamazoo ledger was purchased to record the complete inventory together with unique object numbers. It can be found in the library as two heavy brown ledgers md16 and md17.

In 2007, md16 and md17 were scanned, photocopies were updated with additions to Sculpture collection (SCU), Milner and Nuttall ceramic collections (POTM and POTN), Watches collection (CWJ) and bound in three volumes.

Work had began on a digital Collections Management System (CMS) in 2002. After 2007, all new accessions to the permanent collections have been recorded digitally. A public version of the data is displayed in Towneley collections browser.