Appearance
An accession record is the short administrative document an archive creates the moment new material arrives, capturing who gave it, when, how much there is, and on what terms — before any cataloguing happens. It is your first line of physical and legal control. If a box turns up with no accession record, the archive cannot prove ownership, cannot say where it came from, and cannot prioritise it for processing. Get this one habit right and everything downstream becomes possible.
Why do accession records matter so much?
Think of accessioning as signing for a delivery. Until you record what arrived and who sent it, the material is in limbo. Three concrete things depend on the accession record:
- Legal control — proof of how the archive acquired the material (gift, purchase, deposit, transfer) and on what terms.
- Provenance — the source, which underpins all archival meaning. Lose it at the door and it is usually lost forever.
- Backlog management — you cannot prioritise, locate, or report on material you have never logged.
An unaccessioned backlog is not a backlog; it is an unknown quantity.
What goes in an accession record?
Keep the first version short and reliable. These are the core fields:
- Accession number — unique, sequential identifier.
- Date received — the actual transfer date.
- Source / donor — person or body, with contact details.
- Acquisition type — gift, purchase, deposit, transfer, bequest.
- Brief description — a sentence or two on content.
- Extent — boxes, linear metres, or item count.
- Terms and conditions — access restrictions, copyright notes, return conditions for deposits.
- Location — where the boxes physically sit now.
Anything beyond this is a bonus. The discipline is finishing the record on arrival, not making it exhaustive.
A small worked example
Say a local engineer's family brings in three boxes of papers. From a standing start, your accession record looks like this:
text
Accession number: 2024/017
Date received: 2024-09-23
Source: Mrs J. Hartley (granddaughter of donor)
Acquisition type: Gift
Description: Personal and business papers of Thomas Hartley,
civil engineer, c.1890-1955. Letters, drawings,
notebooks, a few photographs.
Extent: 3 archive boxes (approx. 0.5 linear metres)
Conditions: Gift, no restrictions. Copyright assigned by donor.
Location: Bay 4, Shelf 12
Signed agreement: Deed of gift filed, ref DG-2024-09That record took ten minutes and now the material is under control. Cataloguing can wait months; this cannot.
How should I number accessions?
Use a scheme that is unique, sequential, and never reused. The most common are year-based:
| Scheme | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Year/sequence | 2024/017 | Simple, sortable, widely used |
| Prefix-year-seq | ACC-2024-017 | Clear in mixed systems |
| Running number | 4592 | Works but loses the year context |
Pick one and apply it to every accession forever. If you delete an accession (rare — deaccessioning is a formal process), do not recycle the number; the gap is part of the audit trail.
Where do I keep accession records?
A small archive can run an accessions register as a single well-structured spreadsheet: one row per accession, one column per field above, never overwriting a row. The rules that matter:
- One authoritative copy, backed up.
- No reused numbers.
- A deed of gift or deposit agreement linked or filed for every accession.
Larger archives use AtoM, ArchivesSpace, or CALM, which validate numbers, link accessions to descriptions, and generate donor reports. The tool helps, but a disciplined spreadsheet beats a fancy system nobody updates.
How does accessioning connect to cataloguing?
Accessioning establishes control; cataloguing (description) supports research. They are separate steps, often separated by years. The accession record feeds the eventual catalogue — its source, extent, and dates become the basis of the administrative-history and provenance elements when you finally describe the fonds. Keep the accession record; never throw it away once cataloguing is done, because it is the primary evidence of how the material came to you.
Key Takeaways
- An accession record logs an acquisition on arrival: source, date, extent, and terms.
- Create it immediately — control first, cataloguing later.
- Core fields are accession number, date, source, type, description, extent, conditions, location.
- Use a unique, sequential, never-reused numbering scheme, usually year-based.
- A disciplined spreadsheet is enough to start; dedicated software adds validation and links.
- The accession record is permanent evidence of provenance — keep it even after cataloguing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an accession record?
An accession record documents a single acquisition of material as it arrives at the archive — who gave it, when, how much, and under what terms. It is the archive's first and most basic point of physical and legal control, created before any cataloguing.
How is an accession record different from a catalogue record?
An accession record is administrative and captures the transfer event; a catalogue (descriptive) record supports research access. You create the accession record on arrival, often years before the material is fully catalogued.
What information must an accession record contain?
At minimum: a unique accession number, date received, source or donor, a brief description, extent, and the terms of acquisition such as gift, purchase, or deposit. Provenance and any access restrictions are strongly recommended.
When should I create the accession record?
Immediately on receipt, before the material disappears into a backlog. Accessioning is about establishing control quickly, so a same-day or same-week record is the standard goal.
Do I need software to manage accessions?
No. A consistent spreadsheet with one row per accession works for small archives. Dedicated tools like AtoM or ArchivesSpace add validation and links to descriptions, but the discipline of recording matters more than the tool.
What is an accession number and how do I format it?
It is a unique identifier assigned in order of receipt, commonly year-based such as 2024/017 or ACC-2024-017. The format matters less than being unique, sequential, and never reused.