Dear All, Picking up on Jennifer's email, MDA recently transferred our library to the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. This material includes, for example, minutes dating right back to the early meetings of the Information Retrieval Group of the Museums Association (in the late 70's) as well as a number of key publications in the early development of digital information systems, standards and thesauri for UK museums.
It isn't a universally accessible archive, but I'm sure if you contact Ross Parry at Leicester, he'd be happy to discuss. I would also echo Jennifer's point - Ross has an abiding fascination for and encyclopaedic knowledge of this stuff. (Sorry Ross, but it's true!) Best regards, Nick Poole Director MDA The Spectrum Building, The Michael Young Centre, Purbeck Road, Cambridge, CB2 2PD Telephone: 01223 415 760 http://www.mda.org.uk http://www.collectionsforall.org.uk The revised edition of SPECTRUM, the UK museum documentation standard, is now available. Download it for free at: http://www.mda.org.uk/spectrum.htm -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Anu Liivandi Sent: 24 October 2006 23:23 To: jtrant at archimuse.com; mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: Re: [MCN-L] history of cultural heritage and ICT Have you looked at the reference material on the Canadian Heritage Information Network website? See http://www.chin.gc.ca/ Anu Liivandi Assistant Curator Textile & Costume Section Department of World Cultures Royal Ontario Museum 100 Queen's Park Toronto ON M5S 2C6 Canada Tel. 416-586-8057 Fax 417-586-5877 Email anu at rom.on.ca >>> jtrant at archimuse.com 10/24 10:09 AM >>> Good start Diane. The IBM report follows on an earlier IBM-sponsored conference at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, papers published as: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (1968). Computers and their potential applications in museums : a conference. New York: Published for the Museum by Arno Press. Then there's Ellin, E. (1969). Museums and the Computer, an appraisal of new potentials. Computers and the Humanities, 4(1), 25-30. where he says (and yes there's a strong echo!): Computerised information systems that encompass the full spectrum of museum resources will create the opportunity of restructuring the museum environment itself. To illustrate, the museum's computer could be programmed to direct the operation of an orientation gallery where the visitor's prospective encounter with the institution's bewildering assortment of material might be individually styled. One could then choose an itinerary designed to his unique requirements. .... new communications technology will be conscripted in an effort to enhance the worth of these institutions" ... Museums "must be prepared to distinguish between their traditional function in gathering and preserving the objects significant to our civilization and their more recently acquired responsibility to marshal and disseminate the information pertaining to these collections" and Calo, M. A. (1974). The Computer and the Art Museum, A Newly Formed Friendship. Syarcuse, New York: Syracuse University, School of Library Science. There is also the significant early output of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) under Peter Homulous, and CIDOC and MDA when Andrew Roberts was involved with both, the early Getty / AHIP work, and the Scuola Normale survey report. Ross Parry at the University of Leicester and I have had several long discussions about this topic -- within the context of his book on the subject -- as we worked to identify the people who 'lived' this history. It's still close enough, and many of the actors are still around; we're waiting to see the results of Ross's research. jennifer At 8:26 AM -0400 10/24/06, Diane M. Zorich wrote: >Seth, > >The Smithsonian Institution Archives hold the >records of the Museum Computer Network, which >began the push towards computerizing museum >collections here in the States in the 1960s. >You can see the finding aids for these records by >searching for "Museum Computer Network" at >http://siarchives.si.edu/. > >Also check out Kathy Jones-Garmil's article >entitled, "Laying the Foundation: Three Decades >of Computer Technology in Museums," in "The Wired >Museum", Kathy-Jones Garmil, ed. 1997. American >Association of Museums: Washington, DC. pp. >35-62. This article presents a sweeping view of >cultural heritage computing in museums (not just >US based). > >Two other early articles I know of are: > >Vance, David and Jack Heller, "Structure and >Content of a Museum Data Bank", in "Computers and >the Humanities", published by Queens College >Press in Flushing, NY. There is no date on the >reprint I have, but it is probably from the late >1960s or early 1970s. > >IBM. "Computers in the Museum" March 1973. >This is listed as a manual written by David Vance >based on a symposium of the same name sponsored >by IBM. You might be particularly interested in >its appendix, which summarizes museum computing >initiatives in a number of museums (US and >international). The reprint I have says that >copies can be obtained by contacting an IBM >representative in your area. (Wonder if that >still holds true 36 years after publication!) >IBM seems to have published it, and owns the >copyright. > >Hope this helps. Where will your article appear? > >Diane > > >> am currently writing an article on the history of the use of ICT >>within the domain of cultural heritage (archives, museums, >>libraries). In this context, I'm searching for documents from the >>'70s onwards (books, articles, internal reports, etc) which > >illustrate the discussion and implementation of computer applications >>to document cultural collections (electronic cataloging, thesaurus >>management, etc). Does anyone has some interesting archives regarding >>these issues? Or do you know of publications on this subject? >> >>Kind regards, >> >>Seth van Hooland >>ULB - Facult? de philosophie et lettres >>Dpt SIC - fili?re STIC >>Av. F.D. Roosevelt, 50 CP 123 >>1050 Bruxelles >>B?t. DC.11.203 >>+32 2 650 40 80 >>http://homepages.ulb.ac.be/~svhoolan/ >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the >>listserv of the Museum Computer Network >>(http://www.mcn.edu) >> >>To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu >> >>To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >>http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > >-- >Diane M. Zorich >113 Gallup Road >Princeton, NJ 08542 USA >Voice: 609-252-1606 >Fax: 609-252-1607 >Email: dzorich at mindspring.com >_______________________________________________ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the >listserv of the Museum Computer Network >(http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l -- __________ J. Trant jtrant at archimuse.com Partner & Principal Consultant phone: +1 416 691 2516 Archives & Museum Informatics fax: +1 416 352 6025 158 Lee Ave, Toronto Ontario M4E 2P3 Canada http://www.archimuse.com __________ _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
