Accessioned

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Officially added or recorded as part of a collection, such as museum items or library holdings
2. Formally included within a repository or archive for the purpose of preservation and reference
3. Registered or incorporated into an institutional collection to document its presence and provenance

Etymology: The verb "accession" goes back to Latin "accedere", meaning "to approach" or "to come to", built from "ad" (to) and "cedere" (to go). In English it first described formally agreeing to a position or taking up an office, such as a monarch's accession to a throne, and only later came to mean the act of formally adding an item to a collection. Museums and libraries borrowed that sense of "coming into" possession, so an object becomes part of a collection through a documented act of entry. The "-ed" ending simply turns the verb into a past participle, so "accessioned" describes an item that has already been formally recorded. Librarians and curators use it in this sense: a book or artifact is accessioned once it has been logged and given an official number. Its meaning therefore depends on the paperwork as much as on the object itself.

Synonyms: acquired, obtained, received, gained, secured