Family Collection Numbering: Schemes Compared and File Naming Rules

What to take away

The schemes, and the products that run them

The numbering question and the software question are separate, and most families get the first one wrong before they open any program.

PastPerfect Museum Software is the small-museum standard, built for accession numbers and loan records, sold as a one-time licence with a hosted tier. CatalogIt runs the same logic in a browser and on a phone, priced per year, and suits a household that photographs objects as it catalogs them.

Reunion 14 is Mac-only and RootsMagic 10 Windows-first; both hold a family tree and let you attach a box and folder code to each person. Family Tree Maker and Ancestral Quest work the same way for users who want the tree and the archive in one file.

Tropy is free and open source, made for photographing archival documents and writing metadata onto the images, and Adobe Bridge ships with a Creative Cloud subscription for households already paying for it.

For most collections the answer is a box and folder code plus a running number, written on the enclosure and never on the item. The software only has to store that code and find it again.

What a number is for

The Canadian Conservation Institute's note on applying accession numbers states the purpose in one line: numbers link objects to their documents and mark them as part of a collection. That is the test for any household scheme. If your number does not connect the thing to what you know about the thing, it is decoration.

Its practical advice transfers. Apply numbers in the same location as much as possible, giving the example of the center back of dresses, because consistent placement reduces handling. Label every detachable element, so that a piece separated from its parent can be returned to it.

The method it describes for textiles shows the principle: a densely woven white cotton label sprayed with an acrylic resin, printed or typed with the number, resprayed, then stitched on. The identifier attaches to the object without altering it, and it can be removed.

Naming files

The University of Michigan Library's guidance on metadata and file naming reduces this to rules you can follow without thinking. Give files unique, concise, descriptive names, and use whatever system suits you as long as it stays consistent. Keep names short, under about 25 characters, because long names cause problems, and abbreviate instead.

It also lists what to avoid and why. Punctuation marks such as slashes, colons, asterisks, question marks and quotation marks can indicate specific commands and cause problems when files are transferred.

Adopt those four rules on day one. Renaming ten thousand files later is a job nobody finishes.

Where the scheme sits in the work

Numbering comes after selection and grouping and before any copying, because every copy should carry the identifier of the thing it came from. Our guide to organizing a family collection sets out that order, and the notes on recording condition cover the paperwork the numbers are meant to link to.

Common questions

Should the number go on the back of a photograph?

In soft pencil, in a corner, only if the back is plain paper. On resin-coated prints and anything glossy, number the sleeve instead. If the print is valuable or fragile, ask a conservator before writing on it at all.

Do I need a database?

A spreadsheet is enough for most family collections and opens on anything. Move to PastPerfect or CatalogIt when you need loan records, location history or multiple people editing at once.

What if I inherit a numbering system?

Keep it. A working scheme you did not design beats a better one you have to apply to everything. Record the old scheme's rules somewhere before the person who understood it stops being able to explain them.

Should file names describe the content?

Briefly. The date and a short subject are enough; the detail belongs in the spreadsheet. A name that tries to hold the whole story will hit the character limit and lose the part you needed.