Historic Numbering Systems

Accession Numbers and Registration Numbers

Accession numbers and registration numbers can be identifiers for an item or group of items, which can be looked up on the Transcribe Wellcome database https://wellcome.quickbase.com/db/bqg7rhzs8 It is important to note that visual material has been acquired historically within the remit of both the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library.

• Library accession numbers (also used for manuscripts) are numbers of up to 6 digits e.g. 43578, 329517

• Museum accession numbers always include the 'A' prefix e.g. A123456, A4598

• Museum registration numbers always include the 'R' prefix e.g. R56237, R98/1937 (n.b. the prefix 'P' is used interchangably with 'R' for some paintings)

• Museum registration numbers from the 'new' series (those which include the year of registration as well as a running number) are standardised to the following format: R + number + forward slash [/] + full 4-digit year e.g. R98/1937

Accession Number Standardisation

Accession numbers should be recorded with no gaps between prefix and the number.

Visual Collections: some context

Before 1928, paintings were managed directly by the WHMM, whereas prints and drawings were the responsibility of the library. Separate catalogue and accession registers for prints survive from the early 1900s, with the first numbering sequence introduced in 1914. A distinction in documentation practice for paintings survived the merging of responsibility for prints, drawings, paintings and photographs into a single WHMM department in 1928: paintings destined for display continued to be entered into the museum registration systems (often distinguished from other museum objects by a 'P' prefix in the sequence rather than the usual 'R'), but unlike other museum objects do not appear to have been allocated 'A' numbers. Instead, separate accession registers and card indexes were maintained for prints, engravings, drawings, paintings and photographs, distinct from the main museum registers and card indexes. Collections of prints, drawings, paintings and photographs reverted to the responsibility of the library from 1974, although new acquisitions to these collections continued to be documented in the various specialist registers until the 1980s, and only thereafter in the main library registers.

The table below summaries the numbering systems used for paintings, prints, drawings and photographs at various dates:

Prefix	Example	Coverage	Registers	Index Cards
No prefix	335210	Library accession numbers. Paintings and prints accessioned into Library register from December 1981 to December 2000.	335210 to 351518 (WA/HMM/LI/Acc/13)
CC	CC 4567	Paintings (although a few prints and drawings were also registered in this sequence). System used by Daniel Pender-Davidson and continued by others to 1935.	CC 4866 to CC 9145 (WA/HMM/IC/1/25-27) Draft registers CC 9146 to CC 9778 (WA/HMM/IC/Not/1)	CC 1 to CC 9778 in two series, one handwritten by Pender-Davidson, one typescript, gaps in each series. Series 1: CC1 to CC7000 (WA/HMM/IC/3/A.1-A.12) Series 2: CC1 to CC9778 (WA/HMM/IC/3/A.13-A.37)
i (suffix)	1i to 47880i; or 6 figure reference starting 485285i	Control (catalogue) numbers introduced with the advent of computer cataloguing. 6 figure ‘i’ numbers relate to material catalogued post-2000.
ICV	ICV No 18470	Iconographic videodisk number. Mostly now superseded by ‘i’ control numbers, but ICV number may still be found written on physical item.
L	L0014268 or L 14268	Wellcome Images number used to refer to Library materials. nb some visual/iconographic items have both a V and an L image.	Searchable at wellcomecollection.org/works
M	M0017446 or M 17446 or neg. no. 17446	Wellcome Images number used to refer to museum objects or photographs taken by WHMM photographers	M 1 to M 20325 (cataloguing in progress)
P	P 2	Prints and photographs accessioned ?by the library before 1918.	P 1 to P 1874 (WA/HMM/IC/1/4)
P (or R) year	P 2949/1938 or 2949’1938	Paintings registered in main museum registers between 1935 and 1980. Paintings were supposed to be given ‘P’ prefixes in place of ‘R’.	R 1/1935 to R 6/1980 (WA/HMM/CM/Acc/21-56)	[R/P] 19/1935 to P 142/1976 (WA/HMM/IC/3/D.1)
PD / PD year	PD 884 or PD 1960-1-7	Batch accessioning of prints and drawings, some retrospective, begun by C. A. Earnshaw in February 1936 and continued by others up to 1982. Initially sequential; later reverts to 1-1 each new year.	PD 1 to PD 391 (WA/HMM/IC/1/28-31) Gap 1938 to 1959. PD 1959-1-1 to PD 1982-14 (WA/HMM/IC/1/32)	Earnshaw’s notes up to PD 420 and for 1936-1 to 1936-199 (uncatalogued)
PHO	PHO 884	Photographs. Begun by Pender-Davidson in December 1928. Continuous sequence to 1987. Negative numbers noted usually refer to Wellcome Images M sequence.	PHO 1 to PHO 15277 (WA/HMM/IC/1/9-24)	PHO 1 to PHO 2234 (WA/HMM/IC/3/C.1-C.14)
PR	PR 1928	Prints, mostly portraits. Registers constructed by Pender-Davidson between 1928 and 1933.	PR 1 to PR 1104 (WA/HMM/IC/1/7) Provenance details reconstructed by Earnshaw (with gaps) PR 1 to PR 26508 (WA/HMM/RP/Sta/3)
R	R 14799 or 14799	Paintings registered in main museum registers, 1914-1933.	R 1 to R 60514 (WA/HMM/CM/Acc/1-20)
V	V0018011 or V 18011	Wellcome Images number used to refer to items in visual/iconographic collection. nb some items still in the collection have both a V and an L image.	Searchable at wellcomecollection.org/works