Digitising Riley House: Collaborating to bring a museum’s archives online
Abstract
In 2021, the John G. Riley Center and Museum of African American History and Culture received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to digitise its archives. This project aimed to preserve and make accessible the rich history of African American communities in Florida. The grant facilitated the digitisation of the Riley House Archives at Tallahassee State College (TSC) and audiovisual materials held by Riley House, alongside a series of workshops to share the knowledge gained from the project. The project was a collaborative effort involving Riley House staff, City of Tallahassee personnel, Florida State University faculty, TSC staff and interns. Key challenges included logistical issues, copyright concerns, and the need for continuous adjustments to the project plan. Despite these hurdles, the team successfully digitised over 5,000 items, including photos, letters, business documents, yearbooks and oral histories from 24 collections. The project also focused on creating a sustainable digital library using Omeka S software, ensuring longterm accessibility and management. Interns played a crucial role, gaining valuable hands-on experience and contributing significantly to the project’s success. The initiative not only enhanced the discoverability of the Riley Archives but also provided a replicable model for other institutions within the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network. This case study will share how we designed and executed this project along with highlighting the challenges and importance of partnership building across institutions to make large-scale digitisation projects successful in a finite timeline. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection, which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Krystal Thomas is the Director of Digital Archives in Special Collections & Archives at Florida State University Libraries. Her work is focused on planning and managing digitisation projects, born-digital collection management and digital preservation along with supervision of the Digital Library Center. She earned her MSI in archives and records management from the University of Michigan.
Kiah Akosua Asabea is the Principal and Senior IT Consultant at Sirius Web Solutions, which specialises in website development, digital archiving, graphic design and e-marketing strategies. She earned a BS degree in computer information systems from Florida A&M University and webmaster certification from Florida State University. Kiah has over 25 years in the computer industry and is well versed in various programming languages, digital archiving tools and internet technologies.
Noah Cole is a PhD candidate in medieval history at Florida State University. He has previously worked as a library assistant at Florida State University’s Special Collections & Archives, as well as on the Riley House Digitisation Project. He performed archival research in Bologna, Italy, for his dissertation project at the Archivio di Stato, the Biblioteca Comunale dell’Archiginnasio, and the special collections division of the University of Bologna. He studies 15th-century preaching, medieval political ideology and political conflict.
Amalie Ostertag is the Curatorial Assistant at the John G. Riley Center and Museum. Amalie received her BA in studio art from Florida State University with a focus on fabric arts and photography. As well as working on the Riley House Digitisation Project, Amalie assisted with the production of the Riley Museum’s newest exhibit, African Americans in Tallahassee: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
