By Ken Storey
As with any large museum, the Orlando Museum of Art has plenty of documents archiving its history. Up to this point, all those files and items, some dating as far back as the 1920s, were being stored in the crawlspace under the Museum.
The Archive Project was just launched as a way to document all of these files and items. Underwritten by museum supporters Audrey and Pat Knipe, the project looks to establish a searchable archive.
"The main focus of initiating The Archive Project is to establish an institutional archive that will preserve the Museum's history while providing access to the material in an organized way," said Glen Gentele, Director & CEO of the Museum.
Garret Kremer-Wright, of the Orange County Regional History Center, will come to the Orlando Museum of Art once a week to work through the massive file collection. The archiving will be a collaboration between the art museum, the history center, and UCF who will provide students from the Public History Department who will serve as interns for the project.
Cynthia Cardona Meléndez, Curator of Collections at the History Center, likes the student involvement, "The Archive Project will serve as a great opportunity for UCF students who can benefit from gaining real experience in the field."
Materials to be archived include financial records, meeting minutes, scrap books, architectural plans and mark-ups from past additions to the Museum building, correspondence, information about previous exhibitions and programs produced by the Museum.
The project will take about a year and half to complete, but at completion, the archive will be a user-friendly and functional system that will assist in future museum research.
As with any large museum, the Orlando Museum of Art has plenty of documents archiving its history. Up to this point, all those files and items, some dating as far back as the 1920s, were being stored in the crawlspace under the Museum.
The Archive Project was just launched as a way to document all of these files and items. Underwritten by museum supporters Audrey and Pat Knipe, the project looks to establish a searchable archive.
"The main focus of initiating The Archive Project is to establish an institutional archive that will preserve the Museum's history while providing access to the material in an organized way," said Glen Gentele, Director & CEO of the Museum.
Garret Kremer-Wright, of the Orange County Regional History Center, will come to the Orlando Museum of Art once a week to work through the massive file collection. The archiving will be a collaboration between the art museum, the history center, and UCF who will provide students from the Public History Department who will serve as interns for the project.
Cynthia Cardona Meléndez, Curator of Collections at the History Center, likes the student involvement, "The Archive Project will serve as a great opportunity for UCF students who can benefit from gaining real experience in the field."
Materials to be archived include financial records, meeting minutes, scrap books, architectural plans and mark-ups from past additions to the Museum building, correspondence, information about previous exhibitions and programs produced by the Museum.
The project will take about a year and half to complete, but at completion, the archive will be a user-friendly and functional system that will assist in future museum research.
