Historical Society Digitizes Collection With State Grant
The Bloomington Historical Society is ahead of schedule in digitizing its collection through a one-year grant from the Minnesota Arts and Heritage Fund, officials reported to the city council Wednesday.
The society received the grant through the Minnesota Historical Society in October to purchase software that catalogs items and makes them accessible through Minnesota Collections online. The grant allows the organization to display artifacts alongside other Minnesota museums for public viewing.
Jean, a society volunteer, said the organization has entered 866 items toward its goal of 1,000 items by October. The digital system represents a significant upgrade from the society's previous handwritten inventory system, allowing staff to know the location and details of every item in the collection.
The society currently is working on artifacts from Bloomington's police and fire departments. Each item is photographed and entered into the collective access database with detailed information. The digitization effort aims to share the community's stories beyond the museum's physical walls, as thousands of items remain in storage due to space limitations.
The Old Town Hall Museum operates entirely on volunteers and donations, offering free admission Wednesday through Thursday and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 8 p.m. The society's digitized collection can be accessed through a link on its website to the Minnesota Collections online database.
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▸Meeting Analysis
The Bloomington Historical Society received a one-year grant from the Minnesota Arts and Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society to digitize their collection. The grant allows them to purchase software to catalog items and make them accessible through Minnesota Collections online. They are ahead of schedule, having entered 866 items toward their goal of 1,000 items by October. The museum operates entirely on volunteers and donations, offering free admission with hours Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday 1-5 PM, plus late hours Thursday until 8 PM.
▸Source Document
[0:00] - [Jean] I am really
excited about this program.
[0:02] I love it.
[0:03] I love the online ability to go in
[0:06] and look at an item and see it from home,
[0:07] and then be able to come into the museum
[0:09] and see it in person.
[0:11] - In October, we were awarded a grant
[0:14] through the State of Minnesota
Arts and Heritage Fund
[0:16] through the Minnesota
Historical Society in order
[0:19] to purchase a data system
that would allow us
[0:22] to enter our collections
[0:23] and also to have access to
Minnesota Collections online,
[0:27] to display items along with
other Minnesota museums
[0:31] for the public to view.
[0:33] - This software really allows us
[0:35] to take a huge leap from
handwritten, sketchy,
[0:39] incomplete inventory to
when we're finally able
[0:42] to get everything in,
[0:44] we will be totally professional inventory,
[0:47] we will know where
everything is, we will know
[0:48] what it is, and it's just so exciting.
[0:51] It's just huge.
[0:51] Today, we're working on a box of artifacts
[0:54] that is the police and fire
department from Bloomington.
[0:57] So first, we go into the box
[0:58] and we see if things have a number
[1:00] and if they have a number,
[1:02] then we create the number
here in our number system,
[1:06] and I take a picture of each
item that I can then edit down
[1:10] to the right size to go into
our collective access database,
[1:15] and I'm able to start entering
[1:17] all the information about our handcuffs.
[1:20] - When we submitted the
grant, we had to specify
[1:23] how we were going to use
it and what our goals were,
[1:27] and Jean had thought that
it was reasonable to be able
[1:31] to enter 1000 items out
of the tens of thousands
[1:34] of items that we have.
[1:36] And so we have until the
end of the grant cycle.
[1:39] It's a one-year grant.
[1:40] It ends in October of this year.
[1:43] At this time, we have 866 items
entered, so we're well ahead
[1:48] of our schedule and we're
finding it very, very useful.
[1:51] - It's just so exciting
to be able to share
[1:53] the collection outside these walls.
[1:55] This is a small museum.
[1:57] We've got thousands of
items in the basement
[1:58] that we don't have room to put here.
[2:00] Their goals for giving the
grant is so that the stories
[2:04] of our community can be
shared beyond our doors.
[2:07] So there is a link on our website
[2:10] to the MN Collections online portion
[2:13] of our database inventory.
[2:15] Our monthly programs are
all listed on our website
[2:18] and everyone is invited to those.
[2:20] The Old Town Hall Museum is
open on Wednesday, Thursday,
[2:24] and Saturday afternoons, one to five.
[2:25] We are open late on
Thursdays till eight o'clock,
[2:28] and there is no admission fee.
[2:30] It's free to come in and visit.
[2:32] It's entirely volunteer run.
[2:33] We operate only on
donations and memberships.
[2:35] The Old Town Hall is
a Bloomington Treasure
[2:38] and it belongs to our community,
[2:40] and we invite all of you to come.
[2:42] (gentle music)
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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