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Ten genealogists from Warkworth Family History Society recently enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of the Warkworth and Districts Museum.
The society, which has donated $2000 to support the museum’s digitisation project, has enjoyed a long relationship with the museum, with members researching their own family histories in the archive and many contributing as volunteers.
This donation is being be put to great use, helping with licensing for digitisation software and purchasing essential conservation materials such as acid-free boxes, tissue and envelopes – all things needed as the museum digitises and rehouses its collections for long-term preservation.
The museum’s curator/manager Victoria Joule shared her knowledge of the collections including the amazing heritage textiles, artefacts and archives. The visitors were impressed by the extent of the collections and the amazing work done by museum volunteers.
The highlight of the visit was seeing the large-scale digitisation project in action. Volunteer Vicki Stradniek explained how she and other volunteers have taken more than 11,500 photographs or scans of archival records and 320 photographs of objects over the past year.
The aim is to create a digital record of museum artefacts including records, photos and textiles and to make the museum more accessible for research and public use. While online access isn’t immediate, researchers can view the digitised images at the museum if they make an appointment. The museum is seeking volunteers to help with the digitisation process and is planning to hold public displays of the project in the future.
