When I was an unpaid and overworked curator of an independent museum I was advised by a former museum worker to clean a small area of each item, just large enough for the number to be written, then paint it black with modelmakers paint. When dry paint on the number in white with a pen or fine brush, and complete by painting the whole number with clear varnish. Obviously this was applied to a usually hidden part of the artifact, and it seemed to last.
If a document had to be written on then it was always in pencil, if a letter or small manuscript it went into a clear envelope with a label on the outside. Larger maps or plans into a cardboard tube with numbering on the outside with short title describing contents.
Numbering - A series for Accessions, D for documents, P for photographs etc.
Additionally we had contacts with local 'proper' museums for professional advice.
Simon.
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