Mission

The Museum of Houston offers access to Houston's rich history through its repository of digitized documents from the archives of the city's leading educational and cultural institutions. We are committed to collaborating with the Houston community to bring Houston's hidden history to light. Our collaborators pledge to comply with industry standards and best practices.

Organization

The Museum of Houston project was founded and is managed by Greater Houston Preservation Alliance. Rice University provides the technical infrastructure and support for the website and repository. Steering Committee institutions participate in developing the strategy for building the repository and website content. Currently, the Steering Committee includes the following institutions - Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Rice University, Texas Southern University, and University of Houston.

History

Houston has a very rich and fascinating history. Its public and private archives contain a wealth of information documenting this colorful history. Unfortunately, concerns about fragility and security, limited accessibility and budget constraints combine to prevent the fullest use of these important materials. In the past, efforts would likely have been undertaken to build a physical museum to house, preserve, and make accessible these invaluable cultural assets. That kind of project today is enormously expensive.

In 2005 the city's leading institutions attended a meeting called by Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GHPA) to discuss the possibility of building an on-line data repository and museum. Thanks to recent technological innovations, the Internet now offers real potential for making these resources accessible to the widest possible audience, while preserving and protecting irreplaceable documents and artifacts. A virtual museum costs a fraction of the funds needed for a physical museum and opens the archives, libraries, and backrooms of the city's institutions and civic, social, ethnic, and religious organizations to the general public - in Houston and around the world.

The project started in March 2006 when GHPA received a two-year grant from Houston Endowment Inc. to hire staff. The project was then endorsed by Mayor Bill White, Rice University President David Leebron, and JP Morgan Chase Regional Vice President Will Williams at a press conference in early April. The Steering Committee includes representatives from some of the city's finest institutions - Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Rice University, Texas Southern University, and University of Houston.

Content

The Museum of Houston holds all types of documents about Houston history - archives from private collections donated to the city's institutions, government papers released by the City of Houston, and derived works that weave together individual documents in the repository. It has 'something for everyone' interested in Houston history.

• Students - The Museum of Houston houses digitized versions of original archival documents and images. In most cases the documents are examples selected from a much larger collection. The source data on the document record can lead students to the full collection - and a wealth of hidden information.
• Scholars and Researchers - Serious scholars and researchers can find historical documents previously only available in the archives of the city's institutions. The document's metadata has the information scholars need to cite it in scholarly works.
• People Interested in Photographs of Houston - The Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library alone has over 4 million photographs documenting the history of Houston. Many other contributors also have large photographic collections. The public will now be able to see selections from these vast collections through the Internet.
• General Public - The Museum of Houston contains all types of documents relating to the history of Houston including photographs, maps, documents, broadsides, architectural drawings, books, periodicals and oral and video histories. The website will also feature exhibits highlighting a specific topic or incident - fascinating stories supplemented with examples from the archives.

The Museum of Houston is an on-going project. We invite participation from all of the city's institutions and businesses; civic, social and religious organizations; and private citizens.

Technology

The Museum of Houston is a digital repository and online museum accessed through the Internet. We are building the website with open source systems and other low-cost/no-cost solutions whenever possible. We use industry standards and industry controlled vocabulary when defining metadata and writing content.

• Repository Management System - The Museum of Houston selected DSpace as its repository management system. DSpace, an open digital repository system developed by MIT and Hewlett Packard Company, captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material.
• Metadata Identification - Metadata for items in the repository follow Dublin Core standards. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open organization engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models. It is currently being used by state-wide institutions participating in the Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative.
• Scanning Standards - The resolution, bit size, file format, compression, and color specifications for scanning repository items comply with or exceed recommendations put forth by Research Libraries Group, Cultural Materials Initiative in Recommendations for Digitizing for RLG Cultural Materials, 25 Jan 2002, National Archives and Records Administration 'Guidelines for Image Capture' by Stephen Chapman (Preservation Librarian for Digital Initiatives/Harvard University Library Preservation Center).and Digital Image Format Standards, California Digital Library, 9 July 2001.
• Image Resolution Policy - Most repository items are initially scanned at a high resolution to preserve a high quality image of the record. A low resolution version displays on the website to facilitate quick loading of the image on the visitor's computer and to discourage illegal downloads.