Precious museum objects go online
9 May 2019
A 1950s pocket watch, gas masks from World War II and an historic bird snare are among the latest items to join Te Awamutu Museum's digital collection.
The museum is digitising its collection and when complete, more than 24,000 objects ranging from the beautiful to the plain bizarre will be available to see online, complete with supporting information.
Collections manager, Haylee Alderson, said the long-awaited project would allow the community to interact with the collection in a whole new way.
Digitising our pieces will mean those really valuable and precious objects that sit in storage will be available online and members of the community will have much better access to be able to see and enjoy them.
For a small museum, we have a lot to offer but at the moment, just not the room we need to showcase everything. This project allows us to make the most of our amazing collection.
The 10-year project involves each item being painstakingly photographed, captioned and uploaded to a website which will launch later this year.
Alderson said each photography session took one day to prepare for, another day to photograph 70 - 80 items and a further day to pack everything away.
It is a very lengthy project but one that will be well worth the effort once it is complete.
The project will help prepare the museum to eventually move to a purpose-built facility when Waipa District Council's builds Te Ara Wai, the new combined museum and discovery centre.
Te Ara Wai will tell the story of New Zealand's early history including the New Zealand Land Wars. It will act as a discovery hub, and lead visitors to visit battle sites and other areas of natural significance within the district.