Brockville Museum Celebrates 10 Years of the Open Drawer Project

Brockville – Much of the Brockville Museum’s collection can be found online today, but this wasn’t the case just a decade ago when the museum launched the Open Drawer Project.

The initiative aimed to increase access to the museum’s collection and modernize the museum’s catalogue system by going online. Ten years later, volunteers and staff have entered over 25,000 object and document records into the online catalogue system and made available over 12,500 images – making Brockville’s history accessible from anywhere with an internet connection!

“We always knew this project had a ten-year – or more – horizon,” says Museum Curator Natalie Wood, “and given the setbacks of three years of pandemic limitations, we’re thrilled with the progress made. It is important we celebrate this milestone and all that the team has achieved to improve access to the collection in these ten years.”

Although the work is ongoing, most of the museum’s collection is now searchable online.

“We’re still working with some of the archival documents, getting images of every object and document uploaded, and ensuring a history of each object is attached to its record, but these really are the final stages of this massive undertaking” adds Wood.

Fundraising for the initiative started in 2011, culminating with a donation from the Friends of the Brockville Museum and a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2013, which funded the start-up costs of purchasing the software and hiring a temporary Project Manager. In March 2014 the museum brought on over 30 volunteers to kick-start work on the initiative.

In the 10 years since, over 80 volunteers, coop students, summer students, and staff have contributed to this project.

“We cannot thank our volunteers enough,” says Wood “They have been the backbone of this project from day one and have contributed over 12,000 hours to this work. We truly could not have done this without their dedication and support.”

The online database can be accessed from the Brockville Museum’s website: https://brockvillemuseum.com/search-our-collection-database/.

There are options to do a keyword or advanced search. Since 2016 (when the museum started tracking usage), the online database has been regularly accessed 100-400 times each month.

The Brockville Museum was established in 1981 with a mandate to preserve and share Brockville’s history. The museum is located at 5 Henry St. in downtown Brockville and is currently open Monday-Saturday 10 am-4 pm. Admission is by donation.

For more information about the Brockville Museum: www.brockvillemuseum.com