The Knapp Collection

Guidance and Approach to inventory.

The Knapp collection is so named after Surgeon-Captain Montague Henry Knapp (1867-1952). Correspondence in the Wellcome Archives indicates that Knapp was involved in the transfer of surplus naval and military medical material from the Imperial War Museum to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum. He was also involved in setting up exhibits, and in acquiring other materials for the Wellcome collections.

In the visual stores we have already encountered some of the Knapp collection, which to date has included photographic prints and enlargements. The collection appears to be dispersed across locations and has previously been submitted for cataloguing prioritisation, although this was not selected. The collection also appears to be a mixture of catalogued, partially catalogued and uncatalogued material, including prints, negatives, photo albums and some contextualising documentation.

From pulling together resources about the collection, including locations and formats, we decided it would be appropriate to focus in on inventory of the collection, to once and for all establish the work needed to make this accessible, as well as better managed and cared for. It can then perhaps be resubmitted for cataloguing prioritsation with a better understanding of the work needed.

To support consistency of inventory approach and factoring in legacy information we know about the material, guidance has been drafted for this collection that has brought new scenarios and challenges to the team.

Approach

Phase 1

Inventory and audit both catalogued and uncatalogued photographic prints/albums

Inventory contextualising material in stores - keep original housing and assign inventory numbers to this if decanting documents into acid free solanders.

When as far as we can tell the prints have all been processed and accounted for we can look to inventory the glass negatives. (We know that some require conservation attention/ are broken - whilst decisions are made about access/ handling/ workflows we will focus on prints/ albums/ documentation)

Phase 2

When we believe we have processed/ got metadata for the collection as a whole, inventory team to look at record creation and part numbering. (To discuss further should the collection be selected for prioritisation as this starts to move into cataloguing scope)

To consider .1 for the negatives and consecutive part numbers for prints and duplicates? i.e. .2 for the photographic print even if within an album and as many part numbers after that as needed.

Phase 2 work on this collection if carried out will be completed in pairs to ensure accuracy and to support speed of processing.

Material with an icon number but not represented on Sierra

Typically if we came across an item with a unique icon number we would presume this had been catalogued or partially catalogued. (The icon number is generated from the system number on record creation). However, with some of the Knapp material sampled to date, some photographs have been recorded with an icon number that actually represents the glass negative on Sierra. No metadata exists for the photo, so there is no import to check the photograph against. You may even need to create the location you are processing in QB.

In effect the icon number recorded is useful in showing that a relationship exists with other material, which can also benefit us by having a created description we can recycle or add to. (We can check the description for the glass negative, but the items we sampled, a description was often recorded on the verso of the photograph)

Sierra had no representation of the item with the icon number at the location of the photograph.

As we are approaching the photographic prints first, and the negatives following that. We need to create metadata in QB, whilst relating it to material to be inventoried later.

In effect we will record the icon number, we will tell QB an item record needs to be created, and we will also flag that the item will need to be part numbered later (and when we have confirmed the negative exists, and does match the photographic print)

In some scenarios, the photographic print and the negative were both represented on the bibliographic record, but the item record attached was for the negative only. The location too referenced the location of the negative and not the print. In this instance, we still need to tell QB to create an item record, but we will also flag as a metadata correction. The negative and the photograph whilst related are separate items and are stored at different locations. This must be reflected in the record.

Whilst we are manually have to create data in QB for an item with an icon number, we do need to tell QB that this is partially catalogued. This is true of material both represented and not represented on the bib record as in both cases there will need to be item record creation.

Other number

One of the resources that will help with data reconciliation is a document that records index numbers for the Knapp collection. On the items samples to date, most of the photographic prints have the index number recorded next to the image or somewhere on the image. This number must be recorded. If you are struggling to create a title/description for the image you are processing a quick look up of the index may aid you.

A link to the document can be found here:

Album page numbers

If you discover a mixture of catalogued, partially catalogued or uncatalogued images within an album, it will be useful to record what page numbers items were found or not found on.

In an album processed during sampling of this collection, numerous items were 'missing' from the album. It is not clear at this stage if they came into the collection like this but the pages and the index numbers will help us reconcile data at a later phase. On QB i could record which index numbers were recorded and on what page, but noted the photograph was not found.

Albums

In the inventory sample, the albums processed were assigned icon numbers and the description on Sierra indicated how many pages the album contained.

Some of the photos within the album had icon numbers, and some did not. It is not clear (yet) if the uncatalogued items are images that we do not hold negatives for or if they were omissions by the cataloguer.

If it is not clear from the record that the photo is contained within an album - please flag this for enhancement and add this to metadata comments.

Similarly instead of creating an inventory number for each image represented in the album without an icon number, please count how many items this is true of and in the metadata comments for the album record - state how many images are not catalogued as individual items. You can also record the index number and page numbers to make future reconciliation an easier task.