Museum goes digital to record collection
THE SOCIAL history of the borough will be saved for posterity on state-of-the-art software as the museum goes digital.
A donation of £600 has enabled Hinckley and District Museum to purchase a computer along with specialised programmes which will enable volunteers to record the collection.
It means museum staff will be better able to access information about the items and eventually provide public online access to the new database.
The donation came from local financial firm Hinckley and Rugby Building Society.
The collection, located in the old framework knitters cottage on Lower Bond Street Hinckley, includes the history of local hosiery, boot and shoe manufacturing, plus militaria, document archives, theatre programmes, photos and even a fragment of the Barwell meteorite.
As an Arts Council England accredited museum, Hinckley and District Museum has to meet a range of national standards including the cataloguing of the items in its care.
Phillip Lindley, museum secretary and curator, said: “We thought it was time to get into the modern era and that’s why we asked for support. Having the collection recorded digitally will make finding objects that much easier for us when putting together new exhibitions and for researchers.
“Hinckley and Rugby’s £600 donation has meant we could buy a state-of-the-art computer with a large screen. Our volunteer user group is raring to go.”
Hinckley and Rugby staff Carla Loughrey and Jamie Clarke visited the museum on the day the volunteers were being trained to use the Modes software.
Carla said: “It was fascinating to learn how having the computer will help the museum and its volunteers. They have a sizeable task ahead to catalogue the collection in its entirety but we’re very pleased to have helped them get the tools they need to do the job.”