Wellcome Accession and Registration Systems prior to the year 2000

Books and Manuscripts

Library Accession Registers

Between 1899 and 2000, all library accessioning was recorded in handwritten, hard bound registers (WA/HMM/LI/Acc/1-13). Formal accessioning of library materials began in 1899, although sequential numbering was not introduced until 1910. As well as printed and published materials (including incunabula and rare books), the handwritten library accession registers included entries for manuscripts acquired prior to the year 2000. Between 1981 and 2000, prints, paintings and drawings and some photographs were also accessioned into the library registers.

Visual Collections: Paintings, Prints, Drawings and Photographs

Before 1928, paintings were managed directly by the WHMM, whereas prints and drawings were the responsibility of the library. Separate catalogue and accession registers for prints survive from the early 1900s, with the first numbering sequence introduced in 1914. A distinction in documentation practice for paintings survived the merging of responsibility for prints, drawings, paintings and photographs into a single WHMM department in 1928: paintings destined for display continued to be entered into the museum registration systems (often distinguished from other museum objects by a 'P' prefix in the sequence rather than the usual 'R'), but unlike other museum objects do not appear to have been allocated 'A' numbers (see below for details of the museum registration systems). Instead, separate accession registers and card indexes were maintained for prints, engravings, drawings, paintings and photographs, distinct from the main museum registers and card indexes. Collections of prints, drawings, paintings and photographs reverted to the responsibility of the library from 1974, although new acquisitions to these collections continued to be documented in the various specialist registers until the 1980s, and only thereafter in the main library registers.

The table below summaries the numbering systems used for paintings, prints, drawings and photographs at various dates:

Prefix	Example	Coverage	Registers	Index Cards
No prefix	335210	Library accession numbers. Paintings and prints accessioned into Library register from December 1981 to December 2000.	335210 to 351518 (WA/HMM/LI/Acc/13)
CC	CC 4567	Paintings (although a few prints and drawings were also registered in this sequence). System used by Daniel Pender-Davidson and continued by others to 1935.	CC 4866 to CC 9145 (WA/HMM/IC/1/25-27) Draft registers CC 9146 to CC 9778 (WA/HMM/IC/Not/1)	CC 1 to CC 9778 in two series, one handwritten by Pender-Davidson, one typescript, gaps in each series. Series 1: CC1 to CC7000 (WA/HMM/IC/3/A.1-A.12) Series 2: CC1 to CC9778 (WA/HMM/IC/3/A.13-A.37)
i (suffix)	1i to 47880i; or 6 figure reference starting 485285i	Control (catalogue) numbers introduced with the advent of computer cataloguing. 6 figure ‘i’ numbers relate to material catalogued post-2000.
ICV	ICV No 18470	Iconographic videodisk number. Mostly now superseded by ‘i’ control numbers, but ICV number may still be found written on physical item.
L	L0014268 or L 14268	Wellcome Images number used to refer to Library materials. nb some visual/iconographic items have both a V and an L image.	Searchable at wellcomecollection.org/works
M	M0017446 or M 17446 or neg. no. 17446	Wellcome Images number used to refer to museum objects or photographs taken by WHMM photographers	M 1 to M 20325 (cataloguing in progress)
P	P 2	Prints and photographs accessioned ?by the library before 1918.	P 1 to P 1874 (WA/HMM/IC/1/4)
P (or R) year	P 2949/1938 or 2949’1938	Paintings registered in main museum registers between 1935 and 1980. Paintings were supposed to be given ‘P’ prefixes in place of ‘R’.	R 1/1935 to R 6/1980 (WA/HMM/CM/Acc/21-56)	[R/P] 19/1935 to P 142/1976 (WA/HMM/IC/3/D.1)
PD / PD year	PD 884 or PD 1960-1-7	Batch accessioning of prints and drawings, some retrospective, begun by C. A. Earnshaw in February 1936 and continued by others up to 1982. Initially sequential; later reverts to 1-1 each new year.	PD 1 to PD 391 (WA/HMM/IC/1/28-31) Gap 1938 to 1959. PD 1959-1-1 to PD 1982-14 (WA/HMM/IC/1/32)	Earnshaw’s notes up to PD 420 and for 1936-1 to 1936-199 (uncatalogued)
PHO	PHO 884	Photographs. Begun by Pender-Davidson in December 1928. Continuous sequence to 1987. Negative numbers noted usually refer to Wellcome Images M sequence.	PHO 1 to PHO 15277 (WA/HMM/IC/1/9-24)	PHO 1 to PHO 2234 (WA/HMM/IC/3/C.1-C.14)
PR	PR 1928	Prints, mostly portraits. Registers constructed by Pender-Davidson between 1928 and 1933.	PR 1 to PR 1104 (WA/HMM/IC/1/7) Provenance details reconstructed by Earnshaw (with gaps) PR 1 to PR 26508 (WA/HMM/RP/Sta/3)
R	R 14799 or 14799	Paintings registered in main museum registers, 1914-1933.	R 1 to R 60514 (WA/HMM/CM/Acc/1-20)
V	V0018011 or V 18011	Wellcome Images number used to refer to items in visual/iconographic collection. nb some items still in the collection have both a V and an L image.	Searchable at wellcomecollection.org/works

Museum Objects

Three different object documentation systems were used for museum objects at WHMM, none of which emcompassed the whole collection. All of these number systems were commonly written in registers and index cards without their letter prefixes, but for clarity, prefixes are consistently applied to transcribed records.

It is not uncommon for one object to have been assigned two or even three numbers, one from each system:

R Numbers (Old Registration System)

Wellcome Historical Medical Museum [WHMM] began formally registering objects in December 1913, according to a simple sequence of numbers running continuously from R1 to R60514 (dated May 1933). Entries were handwritten into bound ledger volumes, and the assigned number painted on the objects in black or white ink (WA/HMM/CM/Acc/1-20). There were also index cards for selected R numbered objects: WA/HMM/CM/Inv/A.232-A.239.

A Numbers (Accession System)

In 1929, an accession system was begun, again based on a simple sequence of numbers from 1 to 500529, with gaps between A301931 to A400000, and 'undetermined others' (phrase used in WA/HMM/CM/Cla/1) between A400000 and A500495. Accession records were kept on individual index cards or 'flimsy' slips (WA/HMM/CM/Inv/A.1-A.231), and assigned numbers were affixed to objects with one tag attached to the object, and another on the outer paper wrapping. This new system meant that more than one person could accession at a time (each being given a batch of numbers to assign to objects) and that objects, and batches of objects, could be briefly documented with additional detail being added to the card later. Much of the accession card data was copied from auction sale catalogues (and hence can be inaccurate or misleading).

R Year Numbers (New Registration System)

No registration of objects appears to have taken place between 1933 and 1935, but a new registration system was introduced in 1935 for both new acquisitions and for objects already in the collection. This sequence of registration numbers started at R1 each year, with the year of registration following e.g. R1/1935 or 1 [1935], R2/1935 etc.; next year starting again with R1/1936, R2/1936, etc. If objects already had A or R numbers from the old registration system, these were recorded next to the new registration number in ledger registers (WA/HMM/CM/Acc/21-56). On the objects themselves, the old numbers were not usually obliterated, but crossed out with a single red line and the new numbers added in white or black ink close by. Again there are also index cards for selected R year numbered objects: WA/HMM/CM/Inv/A.240-A.268; A.273. Objects, and batches of objects, continued to be assigned A numbers prior to registration.

Paintings and Sculpture

A separate sequence of index cards for paintings (WA/HMM/IC/3/D.1) registered in the museum R year sequence between 1935 and 1976 were retrospectively compiled, and similarly a set of index cards for sculpture registered between 1949 and 1973 (WA/HMM/IC/3/D.2).