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As a steward of the artifacts in its collections, the Kansas Museum of History staff manages their care. The national code of ethics for museums states that museums “are organized as public trusts, holding their collections and information as a benefit for those they were established to serve.”
Part of this responsibility includes knowing what is in the collections, where each piece is located, and documenting information about them such as the donor and history. Each artifact in the collection is assigned a unique number, similar to the way a library book is assigned a number. Using that number, records are kept on its location, history, condition, etc. The registration office houses all this information, and the online Museum Catalog contains portions of the records. When artifacts are moved the information on their location is updated. With over 100,000 artifacts in the collection this information allows staff to quickly locate and retrieve artifacts.
One artifact recently removed from exhibit is this piece of Civil War hardtack. It was assigned the number 96.20 when it was donated. 96 refers to the year it was donated, 1896. At that time staff used only two digits to identify a year. 20 means this was the twentieth donation accepted in 1896. The entry for this piece of hardtack gives us details about the soldier who saved it, but it doesn’t tell us if he kept it as a souvenir or because he was tired of eating hardtack.
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