Virtual Museum

I am an avocational archeologist doing recording work at a museum.  All
of the drawings I do wind up on my computer.  I record the data in sketch
form, then lay out the drawings on my Mac.  Since the "stipple" shading
pattern is classic, I print out the line drawings and shade them by hand.
It's into the binder and on the shelf after that.

As I said, all the drawings I do wind up on my Mac.  What the Shoal Harbor
Museum (and a shipwreck museum I'm working on) is attempting to do is to
make its full inventory of artifacts availble for "net viewing".  A
student doing a comparitive study of hand tools over the past four
hundred years could access images of kitchenware from our bulletin board.
Someone doing a retrospective of "Anchors thru the Ages" could download
the samples we present.

What do you all think?  Is this a practical idea?  Does it already exist?
We would't be up and running for two or three years (depending on how many
volunteers we get) but I'd like to know if there are any groups like this
running now.

I may cross-post this message to another newsgroup or two in the coming
weeks.  I'd like as much feedback as possible on this before I propose the
idea to my executive board.

Thanks,
Dan