Planning for "The Greatest Digitization Project on Earth" with the P. T. Barnum Collections of The Barnum Museum Foundation

FAIN: PW-51397-13

Barnum Museum (Bridgeport, CT 06604-4912)
Adrienne Saint-Pierre (Project Director: July 2012 to October 2014)

Collaborative planning to improve access to two complementary collections of historical documents and artifacts at several cultural institutions relating to 19th-century American icon P.T. Barnum (1810-1891).

The Barnum Museum Foundation, Inc. requests a grant of $40,000 that will enable The Barnum Museum and Bridgeport Public Library to work with a team of consultants to create a comprehensive plan for digitization and global access to important humanities collections. The year-long project is designed to result in the "road map" critical to implementing a well-managed digitization project that can fully realize its objectives for preservation and access. The project will improve intellectual control of the two institutions' related P. T. Barnum collections, and incorporate a range of activities that utilize the knowledge, experience and expertise of the team members. The project will lead to a plan for broad access to these significant humanities resources and create digital content that would be placed in an aggregate digital resource repository with a curated platform.