Understanding past locations practice
- Betts Coup
- Vicki Denby
Manuscripts are cataloged either as single items in ALMA or as collections with many items both in ALMA and with a finding aid in ArchivesSpace.
In order to navigate in ArchivesSpace, one needs to acquire a basic understanding of how Houghton's manuscript numbering system evolved. Manuscript call numbers used to have a "prefix"; a "stem"; and an "item" number, but the prefix had to be stripped away when searching in HOLLIS; and a new system of locating material, ArchivesSpace, made use of the prefix unnecessary and burdensome. The prefix would change according to the dimensions and storage location of a particular box. The stem always began with "MS", and the item number was always in parentheses. The call number, bMS Am 1200 (6), was a [b]oxed [MS] manuscript collection; [Am]erican; the 1200th one acquired by the library; and it was the 6th item listed in the finding aid. If this item had multiple folders, the first label would read: bMS Am 1200 (6) Folder 1 of 10. On box labels, brackets were used to abbreviate the folder number, for example: bMS Am 1200 (6 [1]). Besides indicating that material (if onsite) was located in the boxed manuscript stacks of the library, the prefix "bMS" also meant that the box was a standard size, but could be either flat or upright, either shelved at Houghton or at the Harvard Depository. The same things held true for items shelved in the Harvard Theatre Collection. But these are described as "Thr" [Theatre] rather than "Am" [American] or "Fr" [French], for example. An old Theatre Collection call number might read: bMS Thr 1200 (6). Houghton and the Harvard Theatre collection have approached shelving differently until now. Houghton segregated flat standard-size (bMS) boxes from flat larger (pf) boxes, and rarely kept upright document boxes onsite. Because ArchivesSpace uses a database to track locations of materials rather than a sequential approach, we now have sections of the stacks that can accept most box sizes, eliminating the need to send material offsite due to the configuration of its container. The Theatre collection still stores all sizes of both flat and upright boxes next to one another on the shelf, but is moving towards also creating ranges of the stacks for specific sizes of containers.
The prefixes "fMS" and "pfMS" referred to "folio" meaning an upright volume taller than 28cm, or "portfolio", indicating a box larger than a standard (flat) manuscript box, shelved flat. An item with no prefix used to indicate a volume shelved upright, that was 28cm or less. Both single items and individual items from collections were shelved together sequentially. Since single items are cataloged only in Alma rather than in ArchivesSpace, they remain shelved sequentially in the old system. Collection locations are now maintained in ArchivesSpace and sequence is not a concern.
Accession numbers
Accessions are counted according to what fiscal year in which they are received. They receive an "accession number" before they are processed. For example, 84M-62 is the sixty-second item received in the year 1984. At one point, there was an asterisk in front of the year (*84M-62). Prior to the implementation of accessioning as processing, items were initially shelved under their accession number in specially marked areas of the stacks while awaiting cataloging. Current practice is to assign a call number at the same time as the accession number. There is now no need for a separate holding area, as items are often immediately shelved after processing or single item cataloging.
Accession numbers : variations
Rarely, a printed books cataloger may use different spacing than we normally do. Manuscript accession numbers with suffixes normally have them in parentheses with a space between the accession number and the suffix, like this: 2015M-30 (173). They first show the date, followed by a capital "M", for "manuscript". Printed books often use different combinations of letters after the date, and sometimes do not keep the space between the accession number and the suffix, like this: 2015T-37(165).
In cases where there is more than one item represented by a given accession number with a suffix, the cataloger may put a lowercase letter after the parentheses (again, with no space) as a way of differentiating the specific items, like this: 2015T-37(165)a. This allows a search to reconstruct the original order of the items included under that accession number (i.e., 2015T-37(165)a, (165)b, (165)c...). It is not deemed important that manuscripts and manuscripts cataloged as printed books/manuscripts (hybrids) are handled differently.