Greetings,
I have taken over the Curator’s position of our Historical Society. The previous Curator had been marking all our accessioned items according to Museum practices that were from the early 1980’s. On the back of all photos, post cards, and paper documents, the Curator would stamp (in ink), “Property of Hadley-Luzerne Historical Society”. The stamp was also used on the last page of books and booklets.
I am changing many of our former practices and going by current best Museum practices. One thing I can not find information about is whether items can/should be marked with our organization’s name. Best practices now say, in effect, any marks put on items should be reversible. Consequently I’m hesitant to use our ink stamp.
How should photos, documents, booklets and books be marked, if at all, other than an accession number in pencil?
Thanks,
David Cranston, Curator
Hadley-Lake Luzerne Historical Society
52 Main Street ~ PO Box 275
Lake Luzerne, NY 12846