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| Boo! Illustration by Defne Inceoglu. |
It’s evening, nearing 7 PM. Your colleagues have left for the night. You are staying, having decided to work late into the night. A new donation has arrived and you are eager to sort through it and describe before the start of the weekend.
You are unsure if there is still daylight at the surface, you are not sure if anyone remains. You sit below ground in the collections room of your institution.
The security guards must still be roaming the galleries, you reassure yourself.
You suddenly hear a gentle ‘thunk,’ coming out from the shelves that sit behind you. You seize up, breaking into goosebumps. You take a deep breath and close your eyes. Cautiously, you slowly take the time to look around to investigate. You spot something peculiar! A box has been left there in the middle of the aisle.
Getting up from your seat, you make your way gingerly towards the box. Cautiously kneeling down, you place your hands on the lid to pop it open. You hesitate for a moment, feeling fear swelling into your chest. Shaking it off, you pull off the lid.
You are suddenly overwhelmed by the contents of the box. It is filled with hundreds of black and white photographs. They are loose, of varying sizes. Negatives and prints are all mixed up together. Hundreds of small, smiling faces are looking up at you. You begin to pick up individual images, flipping the prints over to inspect. The backs are left blank; no information, no handwriting, no numbers, no dates. You grab handfuls of photographs, throwing your head back, yelling,
“Where did you come from!? Who did this!?”
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What a nightmare!
As we chug along in our roles in collections, we will always encounter objects we cannot explain. This is especially true in smaller institutions, when catalogs are not quite complete. Perhaps somewhere along the line the information was lost, displaced. Sometimes, things are incorrectly labelled or dated. Other times, things can be a total mystery. It is an important note to keep in mind that we are only able to work within our capacities and the capacity of our institutions. We must always work to the best of our abilities, and sometimes mysteries are left unsolved.
How do we begin to navigate the scary world of the unknown? Follow along, as I show you some mysterious objects in the collection I work with and some starting points on how to identify.
Stay calm! Work slowly!
First thing’s first. Do not let the work (or amount of work) overwhelm you. You cannot know the answer to everything. Try to be logical in the steps you take. Never rush or you may just end up making assumptions and mislabelling or misdating objects. Take care to do the research.
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| Yes, here are some cute little pictures in frames. Where did you come from?! Who brought you here?! Photograph courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
Look to the object(s) for help. Investigate any markings, writing or possible identifiers. This may also be a good moment to start a list of descriptions and best-guesses. Photograph the object(s). Look through your institution’s catalog or equivalent for any keywords or similarities to other objects in the collection that can offer more information.
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| Look! This one is signed. Perhaps a bit of preliminary Googling will bring up something promising. Photograph courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
Speak with colleagues and supervisors. Ask if they remember the object(s) coming in, if they remember who donated it or if they can aid with identifying it. Go through old emails, letters and files to see if anything has been kept about the provenance of the object.
Ask for help outside of the institution!
It is always a productive method to seek help outside of your own institution. Email local archives, historical associations or other museums with photographs of your mystery work. Sometimes people may recognize things you cannot.
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| Some sort of lamp, found tucked away, unlabelled, in a box. An email to other institutions would be helpful to help identify this one. Photograph courtesy of Defne Inceoglu. |
Do some independent research. See if you can locate similar objects online or in other museum’s online resources. Consult other publications on collections management and see if they provide any sound advice.
What steps do you take to help identify mysterious objects?
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