Collection Processing: An Ode to the Inventory List

Oh, the humble inventory list.

Or as I like to call it, the Archivist’s Headcount. Either way, it is what it sounds like. An inventory list is a record of everything that’s hiding in your collection’s boxes and folders, waiting to be cataloged and rehoused.

Last week’s post mentioned the importance of creating a inventory list, but I’d like to reiterate it again. Yes, the process of writing down every single item you find is tedious and time-consuming. But when you come to the more complicated stages of your collection’s processing, you’ll be glad you stuck with it.

How should you make your list?

Your initial inventory list won’t go any further than your workspace, so you can create it however you’d like. I prefer to handwrite my lists. Typing them out on a computer is too time-consuming; I don’t like shifting from my work table to my laptop and back again because it’s inefficient. Paper-and-pencil saves me time and working space, and for an unofficial account of the collection it does the trick.

That said, it all comes down to your work style, preferences, and materials on hand. Creating a born-digital inventory list on the computer is completely fine if that’s what works best for you. I find “analog” writing equipment to be the most useful, but the downside is that I inevitably need to type my list up later. So if you want to save a little time by typing your list and making edits more easily later on, go for it!

What information should your list contain?

The inventory should take stock of the current location of each item in the collection. Remember, you’re not moving anything around yet – you just want to enumerate everything you have to work with. Identify the type of object(s) you have (e.g., booklet, manual, photograph, newspaper, etc.). Include any other recognizable information to distinguish each individual item (e.g., copyright/date, author, topic, physical condition, etc.). The more information you note at this stage, the easier it will be to create the final draft and finding aid later.

You’ll also want to identify the location of the object from a macro to a micro scale. The collection I’m processing now came packaged in multiple boxes, so I began my list at the box level. Each box had its own small “table of contents” list, so I would have a solid account of what I was working with and where it was located. From there, I went folder by folder and took stock of the individual items within.

Inventorying my current collection’s materials was a straightforward process. Starting with Box 1, I took every item out of the container and made notes about its function, subject, copyright (if known), and condition. Once that was done, I put all of the materials back inside the box so they wouldn’t get shuffled around. I set Box 1 aside, took up Box 2, and repeated the process. I labeled the inventory list with a heading for each box and followed them up with a detailed itemized account of every included item.

(Keep in mind that the list doesn’t have to conform to any standards at this point, and it should make sense to you. If you want to use shorthand or your own vocabulary, feel free.)

Here are some examples of inventory list items and entry formats:

A notably cool artifact I found in my current collection was in Box Three: a selection of upholstery swatches for the Packard Twelve and Packard Super-Eight. This is one of the most unique items in the collection and there’s no specific relation to any other item. The middle fold and adjacent holes along the “spine” of the cardstock suggest that it once lived in a binder, but where said binder is now is anyone’s guess. No copyright information was printed or written anywhere on it, either. Its entry in the inventory list looks like this:

Box 3: Swatches: Packard Twelve, Packard Super-8 upholstery selections (six P12 upholstery options, 7 PS8 upholstery options) on cardstock. Assumedly part of a binder of materials. n.d.

You can list items that are specifically related to other materials in the collection slightly differently. I found these two manuals in the fourth box of the collection I’m processing. They’re identical copies of the same publication, but clearly they’re in different conditions. They’re also part of a series of seven similar manuals that were packaged together. I intend to keep that arrangement when the collection is rehoused. Their entry looks like this:

• Box 4: Manual: 1940, 1941 Packard shop/owner’s manuals; various models. “1940 Packard One-Ten and One-Twenty, Models 1800 and 1801, Shop Manual.” Two copies (fair/poor, good).

But this is the easy part.

Despite how time-consuming the process is, creating an inventory list is one of the simplest parts of the process. The upside to all this, however, is twofold. It helps you keep track of your materials and practice developing the final iterations of your collection’s identifying information. Supplementary information about the collection (such as the finding aid) will generate from this list. This is why it’s important to include as much detail as possible about each item.

So enjoy this relatively simple collection processing task – the real work starts after that!

Do you have original Packard documents, photographs, publications, or memorabilia that might be of value to the Packard Proving Grounds Library and Archives? Contact the site for information about our collection focus and donation policies.