At the MFA, Boston we have a “department” called Accessories. We make object records for pedestals, frames, shipping crates, mounts, mannequins, and so on. If any of these are for a specific object (or objects), as many of ours are, the accessory record is linked to those object records.

This method has worked very well for us over the past several years. Each accessory can have its own location, conservation reports (mostly for frames), details of manufacture, and so on.

Hope this helps.

Linda Pulliam

Head of Collections Management

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Ritchie
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 12:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Tracking Pedestals

Hello everyone –

I have a very simple question and wanted to know how others have approached the issue.

I have just taken over the pedestal inventory from our Associate Curator who was previously tracking them in an excel spreadsheet.  We keep all of our pedestals in off-site storage and reuse them for the display of other objects if the size is right.  I am currently tracking them as components of objects for which they have been used in the past or for which they are currently used, so the pedestals numbers may appear as components for many objects.  Since the components section is usually used for tracking individual pieces of an object (not crates or peds, etc.), this has not been ideal for pedestals.   The location of each component is tracked in the objects module along with the object itself, but if a pedestal is listed as being in a certain gallery, then my location reports will list these pedestals as objects.  In addition, since we use pedestals for up to three or four objects in different shows and installations, and if I change the location of the pedestal as a component to an object, I have to repeat it for each object.

Do any of you track pedestals in TMS?  If so, how do you do this, especially if you are an institution that may have pedestals that are used for the display of many objects at different times?  I considered attaching it as a crate in the Container Assistant, but then there is no way to cross-reference the pedestal to its object(s).  My intern suggested we create an object in the objects module called “Pedestals” and list ALL of our pedestals as components.  That way, we would have them in one place and be able to view a list that our curator could use to identify pedestals he could use for future installations.  But again, we cannot attach it to a specific object. 

I would like to hear any other ideas some of you may have.  Perhaps there is something in TMS that I do not know about….

Thank you for your help!

Jennifer Ritchie

Head of Registration and Rights and Reproductions

Nasher Sculpture Center

2001 Flora Street

Dallas, TX  75201

(214) 242-5166   Fax (214) 242-5179