Greetings,
I stumbled across 400-500 photos in our files that were loaned to us by several unknown people (1980-1990). We made copies of the originals. The originals were returned long ago. I have not found accession records for these photos. The copied photos are stored in 10-15 separate envelopes. The envelopes are identified by a group letter (“A”, “B”, up to “GG”). They are NOT stored with our other 3000+ photos which have accession paperwork and are marked with “H-LP” and a sequential number.
I know it is usually best to keep provenance, however the photos in each envelope are unrelated to each other. Each envelope of photos was not from the same person.
Should I give these 400-500 photos a proper photo number and physically add them to our other 3000+ photos?
Should I make out a simple accession sheet that says the originals were loaned to us by unknown people and the photos we have are copies of the originals?
All our accession work is done on paper.
Thanks
David Cranston, Curator
Hadley-Lake Luzerne Historical Society
52 Main St – PO Box 275
Lake Luzerne, NY 12846