Columbia County Historical Society, NY.

Purpose: Sustaining Cultural Heritage The Columbia County Historical Society collects, preserves, and interprets items of this Hudson River Valley County's historical and cultural heritage and encourages research and the dissemination of knowledge about its collections. The Society's strategic plan supports collections management and care, as well as continuation and expansion of school and public programming, exhibits, publications, and research use. In this project, the historical society will hire additional staff to catalog its photographs and maps and will create an accessible database of these objects. The Society's collections include 7,300 objects (including three historic properties), 365 linear feet of documents, 5,500 photographs, and 3,300 books. The manuscript collection contains eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century maps and architectural drawings, among other items. Currently, nearly 40 percent of the photographs and 80 percent of the maps have been cataloged. However, these paper resources are not easily accessed by staff or researchers, as they are filed by accession number. This project will enhance access to the collections by improving cataloging, creating a searchable electronic database, and training society reference staff and volunteers to help visitors use the system.