Sunday, August 06, 2006

Norman Rockwell Museum received an IMLS grant

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded $148,625 in the form of a "Museums for America" grant to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. According to an article at iBerkshires.com, "Museums for America" grants can be used for the digitization of museum collections and ventures using new technology. The article notes that:
The Norman Rockwell Museum will protect and disseminate the cultural heritage of the 20th century American artist Norman Rockwell by hiring two collections interns to inventory and catalog the museum's voluminous art and archival collections. The funds will also support research with the addition of a webmaster, Web access software and the design and architectural framework necessary to create a searchable database for worldwide audiences.
Although the Museum is not using the money to directly fund digitization, the work that it will undertake is important work when thinking about a digitization program.

From the Museum's web site, I can see that they are making some digital images available as a way of advertising their exhibits. I'm sure that they are and will be very careful in what they digitize and how they make the materials available, since they have a valuable (money-making, I'm sure) collection. Let's hope that these steps do lead towards something that will allow us to peek a bit more at the collection online.


By the way, there is more than one Norman Rockwell museum. I'm not sure how they are got started or how they related (or not) with each other. There are, however, the Norman Rockwell Museum of Vermont and the Museum of Norman Rockwell Art in Wisconsin, as well as the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, which received the IMLS and boasts having the largest collection of Norman Rockwell art.
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