« Carcieri, convention head criticize union picket plan | Today | Mexican gets day in court on workers' comp case »

September 27, 2007

Bringing Rhode Island history into the now

The Rhode Island Historical Society is set to go online this evening.

The organization will wave goodbye to the past – its 185-year-old card catalogue system – and enter the modern age with an electronic database that allows anyone with access to the Web to peruse items stored in the Historical Society’s museum and library.

A formal demonstration will be held this evening at 7:30.

The first step is to let users search through about one quarter of the society’s documents, that’s 150,000 items, and determine where they are in the library or museum.

Digital scans or reproductions will not be available online.

The project was paid for with a $75,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The society will continue cataloguing its collections as the grants and individual donations become available. Next will be genealogical artifacts, including diaries and 19th-century books.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson, with reports from Journal staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Brandie Jefferson  at 12:16 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)