We assign a number beginning with TR which means "Temporary Receipt". The numbers look something like this, TR.1.xxx.2003 with the .1 representing the group, the .xxx as the the individual objects, and the .2003 for the year. If the work is accessioned, then the number is changed to conform with our accession number guidleines (2003.x.xxx) and the TR number is stored as an alternate number in TMS. If we don't accession the object, we leave the record in TMS for refernece. -Michael Jenkins The Metropolitan Museum of Art -----Original Message----- From: Anne Marr ( [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 1:38 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Assigning loan numbers Not strictly a TMS question, but does have some relevance. When an object comes into the Museum as a potential acquisition do you assign a number to it and create an object record? What numbering system do you use? We just started doing this when we got TMS and we use the reverse of the future accession number e.g. 23.2002 would become 2002.23 once the Deed of Gift was signed. This was a bit shortsighted as the acquisitions by year in TMS is sorted by the accession date and not the object number. The accession date for us is the date when the Deed of Gift is signed, so if the Deed for 2002.23 was signed before 2002.2 the list is all out of whack. I would appreciate it if anyone could suggest a better way of doing this. In the days before TMS we didn't assign a number at all and all we had were paper records. Thanks, Anne Marr Registrar New Brunswick Museum