Digitization Case Study: Alberton Museum

Background
The Alberton Museum was established between 1964-1979 by Eileen Oulton and originally housed in a barn on her property in Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.). While the museum was located at the Oulton barn, many different artifacts from the Alberton region were collected. In the summer of 1980 the museum was turned over to a non-profit organization; The Alberton Historical Preservation Foundation, Inc. It was then relocated to the former Alberton courthouse and jail, which was erected in 1878. This building is the only National Historic Site designated building of national historic significance in the surrounding area of Prince County on the North Shore of Western P.E.I.

The Alberton Historical Preservation Foundation's principle purpose is to preserve, display, restore and reconstruct or otherwise maintain historical structures, artifacts and works of art. It also promotes, encourages, and carries out on location historical, interpretive, research, or related educational activities.

The Collection
With 5000 plus artifacts, the museum's collection depicts the range of activities carried out by Prince Edward Island early settlers. Featured in displays are the early fishing industry, military history, the silver fox industry, Mi'maq culture, house hauling, early pharmacy, a cooper shop, a cobbler shop, house wares, local folk art, china, etc. The Alberton Museum boasts the largest collection of historical photographs and the most comprehensive compilation of genealogical information in the area.

Project Objectives
The project's objectives were to electronically catalogue and inventory all the museums artifacts.

Automation and Digitization
In 1999 the Alberton Museum began on a project to assess and determine better ways to record and preserve their collections. In doing this, the museum decided to incorporate digital technology into their museum.

The Alberton Museum views digital photography as a way to better educate the public and help staff better perform their job. Board member Fenton Jeffery stated a picture is worth "a thousand words,” and “to have a picture to go along with a written description of an artifact clarifies things, you know what the artifact is.”

The first years were spent researching the different technologies that were available using the web, sourcing publications available with information on the subject, asking organizations such as the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) for advice, and then choosing what best suited the museum’s needs. Based on these needs, they decided to purchase a collections management system in order to catalogue their artifacts. The Board undertook the project with much of the work done by staff, summer students, and volunteers.

The software chosen was PastPerfect Museum Software Version 2.5. The software provided the tool for the museum to document their collection, the ability to include digital images of the artifacts, and handle membership information.

In order for the museum to obtain a better understanding of the art of digital photography and its application, the museum sent one of its volunteers to a workshop ‘Digitizing Images for your Museum’ given by CHIN. However, to implement the digital component of the collections management software, the museum needed to purchase some equipment such as a digital camera and scanner. At first they used a staff member’s digital camera, a Kodak DC200, which provided a mega pixel resolution of 1152x862, 640x480, compressed jpeg format. As the staff skills increased and the need for a better digital image came about, the museum purchased their own, a Hewlett Packard 618, 3.3 MPX digital camera and a HP ScanJet 5200C scanner.

Some artifacts, due to their size were photographed in place using the staff/volunteers’ best judgement. Others were taken to a staging room and, with the use of a table, different coloured cloths, and lighting, the digital images were captured. Digital images were added to condition reports so the conservator would know the exact condition of the artifact(s). Master files (.tif) were created at high resolution (1200x2400) along with surrogate (.jpg) images and stored on a hard drive. The museum used their accession number as the file naming convention when creating the image files (e.g. ‘accession number.tif’ or ‘accession number.jpg’). When multiple images of the same object were created, a reference number such as ‘1’ was added to the file name. Two copies of all the digital files were burned to CD-ROM, one is kept on-site and the other is stored as an archival copy off-site. So far in the digitization process there have been no copyright issues.

In the future, digitization of photographic negatives to positives will be made in order that the images can be viewed without worry of artifact degradation.

Thus, the museum has digitally recorded its main floor displays, approximately 25 percent, and is moving toward digitizing the collections in the storage area. Also, as a result of automation and the creation of the digital images, there were other unexpected results. The museum's main storage space is in the attic and they found that they needed some sort of shelving in the space to accommodate the artifacts after they had been processed. When organizing some of the boxes in the storage space, insects were found. The infected artifacts had to be treated and re-packed in artifact friendly containers before the project could continue. They also discovered artifacts that they did not realize they had. These included rare books, archival material, and photographs. With the discovery of new artifacts it slowed the project down as it resulted in researching and documenting these artifacts.

Summary
The project's objectives started out simply as a method to electronically catalogue and inventory all the museum’s artifacts, then the museum decided to incorporate digital technology. However, it was also necessary to give the public the opportunity to view the entire collection and not just the artifacts that were on display. As a result, the public will have the ability to obtain access to the entire collection and with digital images of the artifacts, this opened the door to new possibilities the museum had not previously considered. These included a virtual exhibit for the museum's gallery, easier access for the general public to archival materials, and a web site with some of the digital images.

The museum is also finding that what was thought to be a three-year project is now entering its fourth year and could go on longer. They have discovered that it takes a great deal of time to digitize a growing collection. According to the museum, the entire project went so well that there is little they would have changed. However, they do feel that the project could have moved at a faster pace if they had more manpower, and that re-training a new student each summer is also an issue.

The museum is very pleased with the progress made within the project, and how it has affected the museum in different and unexpected areas. The museum feels that the project is a continuing learning experience, and that objectives of the project are being met in a promising manner.

The Alberton Museum is very pleased with the collections management software they chose and its digitization properties. As a result of the Alberton Museum’s success, other museums in P.E.I. needing to automate their collections became interested in the same software. With the help of the Community Museums Association of P.E.I., other institutions began with the same software and are also digitizing their collections.