More Product, Less Process – Interview with Erica Williams, Archivist and Records Manager What is your role at History Associates? I’ve been an archivist at History Associates for 11 years now. It was my first job out of grad school. …
Stories from the Archives: The Personal Papers of Dr. Hector P. Garcia
In 1949, a single act of discrimination galvanized the Mexican-American civil rights movement. The widow of an American serviceman killed in action was denied use of a chapel for funeral services because her husband, Felix Z. Longoria, was Hispanic. First-hand …
Making the Most of Milestones: Four Tips for Creating Effective History Timelines
With its 35th anniversary approaching, History Associates faced a question that will be familiar to many companies and institutions—how to mark the occasion. How best to highlight events in our past, while also telling a story about who we are …
The Power of a Picture: Navigating High Resolution Image Acquisition and Licensing
Graphics provide powerful snapshots of historic events. We can all think of images that transported us back in time. Do you shiver for those determined patriots crossing the icy Delaware River beside George Washington? Or feel distressed by the mother’s …
Behind the scenes on the Road to Tokyo: Telling the story of America’s WWII War in the Pacific
Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries opened at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans last December after more than two years of intense work by a team of Museum staff, media producers, designers, fabricators, and content developers. History Associates …
Mapping History: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Making of Historical Maps
On June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy in what would become a turning point of the Second World War. There are many ways to portray this pivotal moment, but eyewitness accounts, photographs, and artifacts …
Preventing Data Loss: Steps Toward Long-Term Digital Preservation
Will you be able to access your important digital documents twenty years from now? Data from NASA’s Viking missions to Mars in the 1970s was nearly lost to history. It was stored on magnetic tape that began to dry out …
Taking Timelines Beyond Two Dimensions
Museum exhibits have long used timelines to communicate events and trends. Sprawling across museum walls, these time-tested graphics pack in details and provide context to a general audience. However, history is not two dimensional. As demand for online history increases, …
Recommended Resources for Assessing and Selecting Collections Management Software (CMS)
Evaluating and selecting the right collections management software for your organization is a critical first step in the process and one that should not be taken lightly. As collections management consultants, we frequently collaborate with clients and software developers to …
Long-term Digital Storage: Simple Steps to Get Started
Preserving digital files for long-term access is a difficult issue for many organizations; the files can quickly become inaccessible due to media and hardware obsolescence and they are subject to degradation. With the sheer volume of digital information produced on …
The Power of Artifacts to Elevate the Story
The word “artifact” may conjure up a mental image of something archaic — a dusty old object that is stored away and no longer relevant. But when revealed through the right lens, artifacts become powerful tools for bringing a story …