Loans Process Information Flow

Loans Process Information Flow
by Cordelia Rose
Adopted by
Susan Gale Waxter
on May 4, 2022
Loans Process Information Flow, 1986 and Registration Process Information Flow, 1987

Loans Process Information Flow, 1986 and Registration Process Information Flow, 1987

By Cordelia Rose. 1986, 1987.

These two scrolls were created by Cordelia Rose, former register of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, to map the information flow surrounding the loans and registration processes at the museum, explain the database system in use at the time, and assist in the automation of those processes. These documents were then used by programmer Jay Vanatta to create the first automated systems for loans and registration at the Cooper Hewitt. The loans process was completed in fall 1986 and the registration process in fall 1987. Rose’s work is noteworthy for their representation of under-documented museum workflows, including the larger scope of museum registrars, and is emblematic of the manual processes undergoing automation across the Smithsonian and the wider museum world in the 1980s.

Discover more about these documents in this collection.

Adoption Type: Build and Access the Collection