Hi,

You're absolutely right that the museum/gallery profiles created for CA didn't come out of nowhere. They are based off of the accepted standards and best-practices from the art library & archives, as well as art museum & gallery fields.

There are two books that I would strongly recommend as you start the process of organzing and cataloging your collection:

Hunter, G. S. (2003). Developing and maintaining practical archives. New York: Neal-Schuman. <http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/432893861>

Hunter's book provides a solid foundation on how to start and maintain an archive. A good resource for anyone starting in archives and is often used as a textbook in archives classes.

Baca, M., & Visual Resources Association. (2006). Cataloging cultural objects: A guide to describing cultural works and their images. Chicago: American Library Association. <http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69423127>

This book is the most recent published standard for cataloging works of art and artifacts. It will help you determine how to assign identifiers (unique numbers), form titles, compose descriptions, etc.

I hope this helps! Thanks for looking into CA and feel free to contact me <billey@whirl-i-gig.com> if you have any more questions. I'm one of the resident archivists on staff. I specialize in standards and best-practices in the field. Good luck!