5 Tips for Archiving Your Collection
A Beginner's Guide to Art Collecting - 02
© 2023, Raven Editions; Baltimore Fine Art Print Fair
Research has shown that collecting begins as an impulse for many, often based on memories and desires from childhood. Americans collect just about everything: photos, memorabilia, collectibles, antiques, fine art, etc. In these childhood-related impulses, we often find ourselves collecting for the thrill of the hunt without thinking about the responsibilities of purchasing and caring for our collected objects. Nowadays, it is hard to define clearly what a contemporary art museum or archive is. Their function has changed: museums preserve not only masterpieces but also ephemera (booklets, postcards, leaflets, etc.), which once held no particular value. Archives are no longer interested in just physical objects of art, but rather creative concepts and ideas, personal documents, and interviews.
After acquiring several pieces, new collectors often worry about managing their collection as they consider what pieces to add, future market trends, and displaying and storing their acquisitions. Acquiring an object gives you the first information about it — where you discovered it, why you purchased it, and what you paid for it. One might say that self-archiving is not a fundamentally new practice since artists have always been interested in preserving their work. However, self-archiving is taking on new forms today, which not only involves gathering and preserving artwork but also making extensive use of cultural items and working closely with more prominent and authoritative organizations. Personal archives have historical and cultural value: they can tell us something important, not only about an artist or movement but also about the record-keeping systems themselves, trends in art, and histories of collecting culture.
So here are a few of our tips for making archiving your collection more manageable.
© 2023, Raven Editions; Baltimore Fine Art Print Fair
Do your research.
Before starting a collection, you need to do some research into the collecting and purchasing trends that surround your chosen market. Learn how to distinguish unique works from reproductions, compare prices across various markets, develop a collecting plan, and consider your budget and space available for storing and displaying works. Also, consider the survival rate of certain works and how the value of certain collections will change over time.
The easiest approach to understanding these aspects of collecting is through the Internet. Begin with a search for general information about an artist, gallery, art movement, or market trend that interests you. These searches will be the first step to learning how to research an object’s history. Once you’ve completed a general search, follow auction results through online bidding platforms like Arsty to determine the value of works, frequency of sale, and types of collectors and collecting happening. Look into contemporary collecting and archiving habits for individual and institutional collections (most major museums offer online access to their public collections) and determine what methods of cataloging might work best for your collection.
Survey your collection.
First, you should approach your collection as a single unit. Think about the entire collection as a mass of related things that must be organized, cataloged, and preserved carefully to ensure they are accessible and protected in your collection. You may have just bits and pieces of information about your collected works, but this is a great place to begin. You can compile this information and then use it to further research the artist, materials, medium, subject matter, representation, and other relevant information about the works. This step may also help identify missing components and will aid in gathering the information needed to write detailed notes about your collection.
Inventory your collection.
Inventorying your collection establishes an understanding of the contents of the collection and the physical state of the materials. During this step, it’s important to gather all contextual information (e.g., artist information, sale agreements, accession details, & preliminary inventories) and prepare a standardized way to capture the details. After surveying your collection, create a processing plan that arranges the collection into series (and, if necessary, subseries), usually determined by subject, movement, medium, or artist.
© 2023, Raven Editions, studio photography
In this step, you’ll want to:
Review any existing storage and cataloging systems.
Inventory each item individually.
Complete condition reports for each object.
Take high-quality photographs of each object.
Note any damage or special handling needs.
And identify existing groups of related materials.
If you prefer not to or do not have the capacity to provide specific descriptions of the works in your collection, you can create a collection-level description that covers the general scope of the materials. This should include a description of when, why, and by whom the collection was created and a general inventory or summarized list of what can be found in the collection.
Decide on an art inventory system.
Now you should decide on an inventory system that works best for you. If you prefer a handwritten system, you can catalog your collection using standard notecards, dedicated notebooks, &/or a house filing system. Or, you can create a computer database using Excel spreadsheets to organize and house collection information. Other online database systems or art inventory software, like Artwork Archive, can organize and track the information you record within it. Depending on the size and intended use of your collection, you might also want to look for a program that can track location, loan, and exhibition information to create a full provenance record.
Using the data you’ve collected through steps 1 through 3, you can create a dynamic system to track the essential details for each piece in your collection, which can include title, date of creation, artist/maker information, medium, dimensions, price, collection, exhibition history, images of the artwork, a description of the work, an inventory number, and any other important notes you may need.
© 2023, Raven Editions; studio archive
Manage and enjoy your archive.
Once you’ve inventoried your collection, you can easily share this catalog with buyers, collectors, or interested institutions, or you can create and peruse an online version of your collection. Artists can also use these archival processes to make recording their creative evolution easier. Online databases can register sales, develop invoices, record acquisitions, and track exhibition or award history related to specific artworks.
Most growing collections represent substantial investments of time, effort, and money. Besides its obvious uses for insurance claims, a carefully kept catalog is valuable to those who may buy from or inherit your collection. Cataloging is also a way of tracking new acquisitions, becoming intimately acquainted with all the objects in your collection, identifying its strengths and weaknesses, and enjoying it thoroughly.
Key Tip: Try a database software like Artwork Archive for easily digitizing and organizing your collection online.
An inventory project can seem overwhelming, especially if you have hundreds or thousands of pieces to archive, but digitizing your collection will increase its longevity while also organizing and safeguarding it. Archiving personal collections can also be a way to tell your story as an artist or collector.
More in the series: A Beginner’s Guide to Art Collecting