Reference revels

I am cataloguing a series of concert programmes, part of the archive of a theatre company/choir. I am trying to keep the references quite short, to save confusion, since archives are already difficult and confusing enough.

My catalogue has a beautiful hierarchial structure.

So the reference for the whole collection is MS1234 Records of the Very Good Theatre Chorus.

Within this, there are several sections, or sub-fonds as you call it in the trade:

MS1234/1 Management Committe
MS1234/2 Secretary
MS1234/3 Concerts

Within these are series of documents:

MS1234/1/1 Minutes of the Management Committee
MS1234/1/2 Agendas

MS1234/3/1 Concert programmes

Here is where it came a bit unstuck. The company gives two or three concerts a year, each producing a programme, a poster, some flyers, and other publicity.

So MS1234/3/1/1 year 1954
MS1234/3/1/1/1 January concert programmes and publicity
MS1234/3/1/1/1/1/1 a single programme - oh dear, that's too long. I don't like having references made up of strings of numbers because it's easy to miss out a number and it's a pain having to work out whether MS1234/1/2/3 comes before or after MS1234/1/3/2 (it comes before, in case you are wondering).

So here's my solution. I think it's quite elegant.

MS1234/3/1 Concert programmes
MS1234/3/1/1954 programmes and publicity for 1954

MS1234/3/1/1954/1 Programmes and publicity for January concert
MS1234/3/1/1954/2 Programmes and publicity for May concert

MS1234/3/1/1954/1a Programme for January concert
MS1234/3/1/1954/1b Flyer for January concert
MS1234/3/1/1954/2a Programme for May concert
MS1234/3/1/1954/2b Flyer for May concert

Not too long, easy to sort, easy to add to, easy to label the envelopes.

Merry Christmas, kakapo chicks.