Best Practices
Register for Preservervation: Inventory as the Starting Point for Collection Care
When we talk about cultural heritage conservation, it’s natural to focus on visible actions: housing, cleaning, restoring. But there is one essential technical action that underpins the work of every institution: for registering – or accessioning.
These are two terms for the same task, used depending on the type of institution: “register” more commonly used in archives and libraries, and “accessioning” in museums – it is a specific type of inventory, and it is a task shared by various professionals, with a common goal: ensuring that each object not only physically exists, but is also properly documented.
Because of its importance as a preservation and collection management tool, this article explains what registration is, what information it should include, why it is the first step in any conservation effort – and what is lost when it’s missing.
To Know Is to Protect
To register an object is to assign it a unique number, describe its key characteristics, note its provenance, location, and condition. This process marks the beginning of its institutional journey and supports every decision made about it.
It is not just a formality – it is also the first act of preservation. A proper register is essential in any institution with cultural holdings, as it connects the object to the collection and its history. Legally, it proves the object’s relationship with the institution and serves as the first level of protection in heritage classification processes.
From a conservation perspective, the register is also the first line of defence against the risk of dissociation.
Without registration, an object may survive physically but becomes disconnected from its story, function, and context. A sword without an accession number is just a sword. But if we know it belonged to a particular officer, was used in a battle, entered the institution on a specific date, and was donated by a family, then that sword gains depth, meaning, and value – becoming part of our shared history and culture.
What Is a Register (or accessioning)?
In archives and libraries, the term register is commonly used; in museums, it is often referred to as accessioning. Although the terminology differs, the function is the same: to formally document the entry of an object into an institutional collection.
Registration can take many forms: index cards, logbooks, spreadsheets (like Excel), or structured databases. To ensure redundancy and greater security, it is common practice to maintain physical (paper) registers backed up by digital copies.
Regardless of format, the goal is always the same: to identify each item individually, uniquely, and permanently.
What Should a Register Include?
Unique registration number – sequential and non-repeating
Type of object or document (e.g., book, photograph, sculpture, piece of furniture…)
Title or main identification
Author or creator, if known
Date of production or approximate date
Form of acquisition (donation, purchase, deposit, incorporation…)
Physical characteristics, including dimensions and materials
Exact physical location (storage room, display case, shelf, box…)
Physical condition at the time of entry
Additional notes (e.g., handwritten annotations, signs of deterioration, access restrictions, links to other items)
Whenever possible, the register should be supplemented with images. Once registered, objects should be physically labelled to ensure they can always be associated with their entry – even if temporary labels are used at first.
Why Register? What’s Really at Stake
1. Proof of ownership
Formal registration proves that the object belongs to the institution. Without it, recovering lost pieces, defending legal ownership, or justifying custody becomes difficult.
2. Preservation of history and context
Each object has an origin, a journey, and often links to other items in the collection. Registration is what keeps those connections alive. Without it, the coherence of the collection is lost.
3. Location and organisation
Registration allows you to know exactly where each item is. This is essential for storage management, item circulation, public service, and collection security.
4. Planning and strategy
You can only plan storage organisation, conservation actions, and general collection management based on a reliable overview of what exists, where it is, and its current condition.
5. Value and visibility
A well-registered collection is easier to care for, promote, exhibit, and include in funding applications, educational projects, or research initiatives. It gains recognition and relevance.
The Risk of Dissociation
Among the so-called “ten agents of deterioration,” there is one that is often overlooked: dissociation.
Dissociation is the loss of connection between an object and its documentation, provenance, or meaning.
It may result from lost labels, separation of parts, missing documentation, or poorly tracked reorganizations. But the greatest risk is the absence – or inaccuracy – of formal registration or accession logs.
➡️ Without registration, the object loses its identity. And without identity, it is no longer heritage.
How Registration Supports Conservation
Beyond its documentary function, the register plays a key role in preventive conservation:
Identifies fragile or damaged items from the outset
Allows tracking of condition over time
Helps detect risk patterns (vulnerable materials, critical zones…)
Serves as a basis for planning storage space and exhibition needs
Supports decisions on furniture and housing
Prioritises interventions and justifies conservation strategies
Practical Examples
📖 School Library
A survey revealed dozens of unregistered books stored in a utility room. After updating the technical register, they were integrated into the active collection and included in the school’s reading promotion programme.
🏛️ Local Museum
During a digitisation campaign, labels were found missing and attributions incorrect. The absence of inventory data caused delays and additional costs. Once the inventory was updated, digitisation resumed, series were reconstructed, creators identified, and the collection revalued.
🗃️ Community Archive
Updating both physical and digital registers of a parish collection allowed for the reorganisation of boxes, planning for new shelving, and identifying priority documents for preventive conservation.
Best Practices for Collection Registration
All objects must be registered – individually. Even in the case of duplicates or sets, each item must have its own entry.
Example: each volume of an encyclopaedia, a pair of identical sculptures, or an accessory with enough descriptive autonomy should have its own number.
The registration number must be unique and non-repeatable.
The system must be clear, coherent, and easy to maintain and interpret over time, even for future team members.
The register should be updated regularly, with periodic reviews of physical condition and location, so any item can be quickly identified at any time – without risk of dissociation.
The Role of the Conservar + Service
At Catarina Cortes Conservação & atelier CCC, registration is a central tool. Through the Conservar + service, we support institutions in:
Initiating or updating collection register or accession logs
Advising on manual and digital registration systems
Defining models suited to the specific reality of each institution
Establishing priorities for unorganised collections
Linking registration with diagnostics and conservation actions
Integrating registration into broader plans such as: storage, reorganisation, digitisation, valorisation
Conclusion – To Register Is to Care Before Acting
Registration and accessioning are the first tools of conservation. It is not bureaucracy – it is responsibility. It is what transforms an object into heritage with identity, context, and future.
If you’re starting to care for a collection, don’t skip steps.
➡️ Start with registration. We can help.
Because before conservation, you need to know what you have, where it is, and what it represents.
📩 Want to get started?
If you need support to begin or reorganise your collection register, get in touch:
🌐 www.ccconservacao.com/conservar-mais
➡️ Discover the Conservar + service and book an assessment session.