Further Media
To this day, each object is assigned a catalog card as part of its inventory, which is stored in a card catalog box. In most cases, the inventory card provides information about the inventory number, the year the object was acquired, the title, the place of origin or acquisition, and which community made or originally owned the object.. In addition, it usually includes a photograph or drawing of the object, a measurement, depository location, and information about the museum's method of acquisition.
The categories on the catalog card represent a biased, Eurocentric, and colonial approach to the objects with information about the collectors and the classification systems within the museum. However, for the communities of origin, information about the associated community and the object's uses, social meanings, and functions is more important. How can we break down our system? How can we gain and hold new and different knowledge about the objects? Should the collections be newly inventoried?
Stefanie Bach