By drawing up a general description of your archive or collection, you obtain a clear overview of their context, size, content and state. Such an overview has several advantages, one of which being that you know what you have and what you don’t have (anymore). In this way, it contributes to your own daily work or artistic practice. It could also be a starting point for additional inventory activities or may give you an idea of whether certain pieces require additional care.
There is a model for giving an archive a global description, known in the archive sector as the ISAD(G) standard. This allows you to list the various parts of an archive according to content and form, from ‘projects’ and ‘bookkeeping’ to ‘general correspondence’, for example. Interested in getting started? Be sure to take a look at the archival description sheet used by CKV. Or register your archive at the CKV.