Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/263

Rh but in most cases a simple note can be dictated quite as quickly as to indicate the form to be used, and the impression created is much more favorable. A somewhat elaborate form in the nature of a diploma is used in acknowledging a gift, and this is of value psychologically, especially in dealing with certain types of persons. A suggestion for this form is shown on page 246.

Every object acquired by the museum, whether by gift or purchase, should be entered in the accessions book in the order in which it is received, but—no object should be counted as an accession until it has been received, unpacked, numbered and entered. Suppose, for instance, a museum were to acquire a collection of fifty snuff boxes, and pay for them on September 30th, and on October 2d at the annual meeting announce the purchase and add fifty to the number of accessions for the year. By some misunderstanding or delay, the shipment is not made until January and the boxes come at a very inopportune time and cannot be unpacked till February. By rights, having announced the purchase, fifty numbers should be left in the accessions book and the other objects received after the report put in later, but this case is often exaggerated and sometimes the exact number of pieces in a new collection is not known. It is therefore much better to count no accession