Sharing Andrew Carnegie's Legacy: Creating "Constellations of Information" by Directly Linking Museum Specimens with Associated Archival Materials

Summary

Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) will catalog ten major archival collections that contextualize specimens, include valuable baseline scientific data, and offer insights into institutional and cultural history. Work will be carried out by an archival team informed by in-house specialists, experts from the University of Pittsburgh, and a network of museums. Funding will enable the customization of CollectiveAccess; strategies to integrate with KE EMu (the museum's specimen database) and external federated databases; and adhere to universal accessibility design standards. Scholars will gain access to hitherto hidden information that directly links noted museum specimens with associated archival records.