The Worcester Historical Museum houses a large collection of historical city directories. To access these directories, a user must visit the museum or contact its librarian. The size and condition of surviving directories make searching across them difficult and time consuming. This IQP investigated strategies to scan the directories and manage their digital contents online. Over the course of digitizing nine directories between 1850 and 1920, this IQP devised best practices for scanning and making them OCR searchable. Further the team investigated commercial and open-source data management platforms, recommending that the WHM pilot three systems. Finally, this team created three digital sandboxes with several directories loaded onto each and suggested appropriate evaluative criteria.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Grande, Daniel Edward
• Connolly, Brendan Christopher
• DiMaggio, Peter Nicholas

Subject

• Computing
• Culture

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-051415-130204

Keyword

• Museums--Conservation and restoration
• Museums

Advisor

• Cullon, Joseph

Year

• 2015

Sponsor

• Worcester Historical Museum
• Wallace, William

Date created

• 2015-05-14

Location

• Worcester

Resource type

• Interactive Qualifying Project

Rights statement

• In Copyright