The shoeboxes

The Sisken Index was four thousand and some cards, five by three inches, kept in seven shoeboxes of no described distinction. The container is rarely written about and never described: material, maker, and condition are all unattested, which is strange given how much depends on where they are.

Claims of custody

Two of the seven are claimed.

One is said to have been held by Ossuary until his death (see lore/halberd-and-ossuary). A second is said to have been the source of the contents of lore/marrow-tape, which would make the tape a partial dump of the Index and would explain why its custody rules are the way they are.

Neither claim has been demonstrated, and the second is the sort of thing Sisken's own card format was invented to prevent people from believing: a rumour about holdings, wearing a catalogue number.

Why it matters

If either claim were produced rather than merely made, the Index would stop being a finding aid and start being an archive, with every obligation that follows from that. The shoeboxes are therefore not simply missing objects. They are the difference between two kinds of thing this literature does not distinguish as often as it should.

NOT SEEN applies to all seven.