The "History Archive" is an easy to use archive database for local history societies who want to catalogue their archives.
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It has been developed in conjunction with a number of local history societies in the UK. It is easy to use and can be accessed from any web-enabled computer.
Key facts about the "History Archive":
- The "History Archive" is a catalogue - essentially, an electronic "card index" for your archive that includes information about the location and provenance of items.
- The "History Archive" is accessed through the web, from any computer. It uses a familiar search format to make it easy to use.
- Once the "History Archive" is set up for you, there is no limit to the number of users who can use it.
- It can also include scanned-in images of items in the archive.
- Text within these items that can be recognised by the computer is included in the "History Archive" database and can be searched on - this means that you could search, for example, through the contents of a letter that you have scanned in.
- Each society has it's own archive - archives are not shared - and each archive can be tailored to store the information that each society wants.
- The archive can be easily linked into an existing web site or we can provide you with a new site of your own using our web site development services.
The web version of the "History Archive" - costs £249 a year* for unlimited users.
An "offline" version is also available for use on a single computer for £249.
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Case Study - The "History of Tetbury Society"
The "History of Tetbury Society" or HoTS, is a local history society serving Tetbury in the Cotswolds. They started using our "History Archive" a in 2007 and have now catalogued over 4,000 items in their archive.
The archive is available on-line to any web user. Various members of the society work on updating the archive from home or from their offices. Once an entry is made in the archive, anyone with web access, including all the society's members, can access the archive and find the location of any catalogued item.
The HoTS has been working closely with us here at 7Northfield Projects to develop a new version of the "History Archive". This includes the ability to store scanned images of archive material, such as books, letters and photographs, in the "History Archive".
The advanced software in the "History Archive" can even search on text in the scanned images.
For example, a letter that has been scanned in containing the word "history" in the printed text will show up in a search for "history" even if the catalogue entry in the archive does not contain that word.
Geoff Haines of HoTS says, "The History Archive has been a very important investment for us. It has given us the ability to open our archives to the whole community. It has been easy to spread the task of cataloging our archives amongst our volunteers, who work as and when it suits them. The recent addition of a new facility to handle scanned in pages allows us to put all the really interesting items in our archive on-line. We are currently looking at the feasibility of charging non-members a fee to access the scanned in items as a way of funding further expansion of our archives".
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* There is a setup fee of £50 in the first year.