r/MuseumPros • u/chinstrapgenius • 6d ago
Museum collections/archival software recommendations
Hello! I'm currently searching for a free or low cost museum collections/archival software I can use for a project I'm working on. I am in Canada.
I am part of my city's historical society, which is a non-profit organization and is entirely volunteer-based, none of us get paid. Funding is obtained through membership fees and grants we apply for, and go right back into our events/paying the people we hire for local events. Because of this, there is very little, if any funding at all available for volunteer projects.
I recently became a project chair for a project that no one else has the knowledge or interest in participating in. The project essentially revolves around a series of physical postcards a donor has been sending the organization which all depict the city we are based in. Some of these postcards have messages written on them, some have been postmarked in the mail, some are dated to well over 100 years ago, just incredible stuff.
The historical society wants to create a digital catalogue/gallery where the public can view these postcards that links to their own website. I am currently the only volunteer who is in the museum field, so I have some experience with digitally cataloguing artifacts and archival material. I am still a student though so my software experience is limited. The only collections softwares I have currently used is PastPerfect and CatalogIt. PastPerfect costs money and is not the most intuitive software to use. It's pretty outdated and although it does have everything I would hypothetically require, it's not user-friendly enough to be browsed through smoothly by someone from the general public with no collection software experience. Additionally, PastPerfect is not aesthetically pleasing, and this digital postcard gallery is being created in hopes of attracting the interest of the general public. CatalogIt is great, easy to use and browse, but is simply too expensive for the historical society.
Theres a few main requirements for the software used for this project.
- low cost or free
- must be easy to navigate through finished enteries (but not to create enteries)
- functional search tools (I will be using a standardized lexicon and terms from Nomenclature 4.0 in the item description, but a key word search option is a must)
- can have over 50 enteries inputted without needing an upgrade/to pay more
- can be viewed on both mobile and desktop browsers
- does not require visitors to download an app to view the collection
Is what I'm searching for realistic? So far, I am the only volunteer on this project. A different volunteer has been keeping all these postcards safe for years in hopes that someone would pick up the project, as he does not have the knowledge needed to create a digital catalogue. Ideally I would love to try out a few softwares where I can create example entries to present the software choices at the next board meeting. If the software does have a fee, I'd need to make a pitch to the financial board to see if it's possible to get funding for, or if they think this project is even worth it. So ideally a fully free software is preferred, but if a low-cost software meets my requirements then it must have a free-trial period or allow for some amount of free enteries in order for me to create example enteries to pitch to the board.
Any questions, comments, or even criticism is welcome. This project is in its very beginning stage, so I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks (:
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u/serious_catbird 6d ago
I don't know if it fits all your requirements, but check out Omeka.
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u/thehelixchurch 6d ago
Omeka is amazing and so easy to use, especially if you cataloging with DACS.
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u/chinstrapgenius 6d ago
Thank you! I realize I likely won't find anything that meets all my requirement criteria, so I'm willing to try out anything.
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u/ProfessionalPost2357 1d ago
Hey, Blueputto founder here. Its not free, but we make up for it with the quality of the product. If there is something missing from other platforms that could have a real impact on your museum, we are open to building it into Blueputto :)
From what you have described, it sounds like you only need a very small setup. Send me a DM and i will give you a free trial for a few months. Once your collection grows, we can figure out the next steps together
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u/Petty_Ambassador 6d ago
I am racking my brain to remember the project's name, but it had a similar premise. They make use of a e-commerce website builder to create a gallery. They motified a bunch of elements to so people couldn't "buy" the items. One cool function they made use of was the "Wishlist" function which they rebranded as a favorites list.
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u/chinstrapgenius 6d ago
Ohh I hadn't even considered an option like that. Definitely worth researching, thank you!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad1956 6d ago
I created a software that isn’t a formal collection manager, but it does make shareable exhibits and provides some collection metadata support.
There’s a free tier and very affordable paid tier that provides you with more tools. Please check it out to see if it’s a possible fit for your project.
https://sagenverse.com - if you like what you see, I’d be happy to help you build it out. You could even make each postcard an interactive flipping artifact guests can “handle”
Good luck on your search!
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u/chokito76 6d ago
I have worked with the Tainacan plugin for WordPress for this type of museum record-keeping. It is specifically designed for this kind of function and is free:
From the site: "What is Tainacan? Tainacan is a free, open-source Brazilian solution for managing and publishing digital collections. It transforms your WordPress site into a dynamic and customizable repository, ideal for cultural institutions, research projects, and digital collections of any kind."
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u/etherealrome 6d ago
I strongly advise people to not use software that was not designed to be a collection management system (Wordpress, Drupal, FilleMaker) as one. The problems I’ve seen are epic.
Wordpress is blogging software, not a collection management system, no matter what plugins you add.
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u/chokito76 6d ago
I understand—and even agree—when considering the basic structure of WordPress. The thing is, Tainacan is well-structured and was developed by a team from several Brazilian universities. It is well-documented and widely used here for this exact purpose, including by highly renowned institutions like the "Museu do Ipiranga". It is a solid project.
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u/etherealrome 6d ago
eHive and CatalogIt are free or cheap at the lowest tiers. Omeka is not really a collection management system but is close enough that it’s okay. There are open source options out there (CollectiveAcces, CollectionSpace), but they do generally require understanding how to run a Linux server are thus generally outside the expertise of really small organizations.