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Textile museum artifacts hit the web, now searchable online to public tlepack@perfprint.ca

EMC News – The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum has gone digital. Researchers can now access all of the museum’s artifacts and library documents in just a few clicks. Soon people around the world will also be able to search and view online 150 years of the Almonte Gazette. The artifact digitization project was funded by the Museum Assistance Program (Department of Canadian Heritage) for two consecutive years for a total of $17,200 in 2010 and 2011. The digitizing of the research collection (books) and the optical recognition of back issues of the Almonte Gazette was funded by the Museum and Technology Fund through the provincial government for $40,733 from 2011 to 2013. Museum curator Michael Rikley-Lancaster believes there are a number of benefits in having the collection available online. “We are making it accessible to everyone. Now people from all over the world can access the collection. It helps promote the museum and entices people to come see more,� said. “It helps for future exhibit planning and planning at other museums. Plus, it helps with the preservation of the artifacts because you are not always handling an item.� It will also assist people who are conducting research on the woolen era. “It will help them invest in their research and open doors for them and we will learn more from that research as well,� said Rikley-Lancaster. Matthew Moxley, administrative assistant at the museum, worked extensively on the project after Alexandra Blades started it.

“We took the artifact and took pictures of it from a few different angles and then put it in the new database system, PastPerfect,� explained Moxley. “I then uploaded all of the photos and added a description to the item, like you are describing it to someone over the phone and the history of the artifact.� Photographing the artifacts also helped document its condition, something that has recently changed in the museum field. “Not long ago you would draw the artifact on the conditioning report and mark on it certain condition issues,� said Rikley-Lancaster. Approximately 3,000 artifacts were put in the database, each with an average of four different pictures that users are now able to search. “It’s really simple to search,� explained Moxley. “You just click under the collections tab on the website, go to library or artifacts and type in a keyword or category.� “What I enjoy with the keyword search is that it comes up with a list,� added Rikley-Lancaster. During the process they were also able to learn more about some of the artifacts they have in the collection. “We had a lace expert come in and they were able to identify if the item was handmade or machine made,� said Moxley. “It has enabled us to do more research, in a really detailed way and the experts enjoyed the process as well,� continued Rikley-Lancaster. “It’s been a real win-win for so many groups.� The next step in the artifact and library process will be to add oral histories to the online database.

will soon be searchable to anyone online. “It’s brilliant,� said RikleyLancaster. “This is very exciting and it will open a lot of doors for our staff and the public. All groups will be able to access it and I think it will have a huge impact.� The idea to put the Almonte Gazette online came after Rikley-Lancaster was speaking with a volunteer from the museum and the Mississippi Mills Library. He soon found out from the Mississippi Mills chief librarian that the library had already digitized the 150year newspaper collection. “We just needed to do the digital recognition part,� said Rikley-Lancaster. Rikley-Lancaster says the project would not have been possible without the support of the library and its foundation. Through the grant money the museum had received and additional money from the Mississippi Mills Library and Elizabeth Kelly Foundation, they then purchased Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. Moxley then set out to make it searchable. “We took the digitized JPEG of the Almonte Gazette page and then put it into OCR and saved it into PDF files,� explained Moxley. “Now people can search the text.� Currently, the Gazette database is in a test phase and the goal is to have it searchable to the public online by mid-summer. “We are working out some kinks but overall it is working fine,� assured Rikley-Lancaster. They have had some small issues with OCR not recognizing some of the fonts but have had a success rate of 90 per cent Gazette online for font recognition. Scanned versions of the AlFor more information on the monte Gazette from 1865 to the museum or to search an artifact 1980s, a total of 6,500 papers, online, visit http://mvtm.ca.

Photos by TIFFANY LEPACK

Matthew Moxley, administrative assistant at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, left, and curator Michael Rikley-Lancaster, stand with the Almonte Gazette printing press from the late 1800s. Left, a close-up of the press.

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See website for details

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Submitted photo

A screen shot of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum website shows the museum artifacts new online search tool where the public is now able to search the 3,000 items in its collection by searching a keyword and within different categories.

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THE EMC - 9 - Thursday, May 23, 2013

R0012114238_0523

0516.R0012103088

By TIFFANY LEPACK

Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.