Accession number (cultural property)

For other uses, see Accession number.
Label in a gallery indicating the object's accession number.

In libraries, art galleries, museums and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to, and achieving initial control of, each acquisition. Assignment of accession numbers typically occurs at the point of accessioning or cataloging. The term is something of a misnomer, because the form accession numbers take is often alpha-numeric.[1]

If an item is removed from the collection, its number is usually not reused for new items.

  1. ^ Witt, B.S., Whittfield, J.C., Stepansky, A.J. (2012) Pastperfect software for museum collections: Version 5 users guide. Retrieved from http://museumsoftware.com/v5userguide.html