Please forgive the cross
postings
Harvard University Art Museums (the Fogg, the Arthur M. Sackler, and the
Busch-Reisinger Museums) is pleased to announce the third data upload to
its searchable database, Collections Online, available to the public at
www.artmuseums.harvard.edu
This research discovery tool now provides basic information on about
76,000 objects more than half of the permanent collection. Deeper
cataloguing data, such as bibliography, marks and inscriptions,
provenance, and exhibition history, are included for about 10,000 of
these objects.
Approximately 12,500 object records are illustrated with images
currently, and this number is growing rapidly. Increasing the number of
images representing objects in the searchable database is one of the
primary objectives the Art Museums has articulated for its digital
initiative in the upcoming year.
Collections Online also includes a number of “Tours,” which are groupings
of objects, pre-assembled according to various thematic principles.
Initially, four Masterpieces of the Art Museums’ Tours, chosen by the Art
Museums' former Director, James Cuno, were presented. In addition, these
are now augmented with tours of two special exhibitions, namely A
Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville
L. Winthrop Collection, and Bruegel To Rembrandt: Dutch and
Flemish Drawings from the Maida and George Abrams
Collection.
It is our hope that making this data available will prove useful to the
scholarly community as a reference and discovery tool, especially to
those preparing to visit the Art Museums to conduct research. Recognizing
that the amount and extent of information online will never be complete,
email and telephone contact information for each curatorial department is
prominently displayed, as is information about how to set up appointments
for close inspection of the objects. As internal cataloging and research
continues a normal part of curatorial activity future uploads
of additional information and images will increase the usefulness of
Collections Online over time.
For information about the technical infrastructure supporting Collections
Online, see
http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/collections/servlet/webpublisher.WebCommunication?ia=tr&ic=pt&t=xhtml&x=techinfo
We invite you to use this resource and welcome your comments and
critiques.
____________________________
Sam Quigley, Director
Digital Information and Technology
Harvard University Art Museums
32 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-496-4292
www.artmuseums.harvard.edu
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