THE CATALOGUING OF MUSEUM 

 COLLECTIONS* 



The system by which specimens are catalogued in most 

 museums of natural history is open to criticism. Insuffi- 

 cient data concerning the collections are buried in bulky 

 volumes or files to such an extent that one may usually be 

 considered fortunate if after a period of several hours the 

 locality and date of collection of a specimen can be ascer- 

 tained. Notes concerning the name of the person by 

 whom the specimen was identified, date of identification, 

 etc., are rarely present. The task of a systematist wishing 

 to find the material in a given museum belonging to a 

 particular group (phylum, class, etc.), or obtained from 

 a given locality (country, state, etc.) is usually a most 

 difficult and oftentimes an impossible one. 



The use of the card index system, the value of which 

 was long since recognized in business methods, will go far 

 toward obviating the difficulties mentioned. A standard 

 card of 4 X 6 inches has proved to be the most serviceable. 

 Following a chronological order the data which should be 

 rendered accessible in an adaquately catalogued collection, 

 can be separated into three groups. These are: 



(a) The Accession Catalogue, arranged numerically, containing 

 a general record of all material received as whole. Consequently 

 one accession card usually covers a large number of specimens. 



(b) The Department Catalogue, arranged numerically, giving a 

 complete history of each specimen or group of specimens (of a given 

 species) acquired by each department (Zoology, Botany, Anthro- 

 pology, etc.). 



(c) The Reference Catalogue, arranged alphabetically, having the 

 names of all specimens (genus and species in Zoology and Botany) in 

 a given department at the top of the card. 



The final disposition of each specimen is indicated, con- 

 sequently it is an easy matter to at once locate any desired 

 material. 



•Reprinted from The Ohio Naturalist, vol. 4 (1904), p. 62. 



