By preserving, organizing, and sharing key historical materials in digital museums, HistoryIT ensures organizations’ legacies are accessible today and tomorrow.
SOUTH PORTLAND, MAINE / ACCESSWIRE / December 20, 2024 / Remnants of an organization’s history – whether films, letters, or scrapbooks-can feel secure when stored away in boxes or filing systems. However, that isn’t always true. Physical damage, caused by decay or natural disasters, can make documents illegible and faces in photos unrecognizable. An even greater risk is that the stories held within these materials are difficult to share, and so simply underutilized or forgotten.
HistoryIT
“If archival content isn’t accessible, potential is lost,” says Kristen Gwinn-Becker, Ph.D., founder and CEO of HistoryIT. “History is a powerful tool. It’s how organizations communicate their story and impact. It’s how they create personal connections and long-term brand affinity.”
At HistoryIT, Gwinn-Becker leads a team of software engineers, digital archivists, metadata specialists, social media experts, and more, to help preserve organizations’ legacies through digital storytelling. This is accomplished through a three-step process: strategize, digitize, and share. First, the team assesses an organization’s archival assets and interviews stakeholders to map the best path for digital preservation. Then, materials are tagged and given descriptions on Odyssey, HistoryIT’s preservation software. Finally, photos, memorabilia, and documents are used to create a digital museum with an accessible, easy-to-navigate interface.
“Our approach to digitizing and tagging is strategic – we’re emulating the language people use when they’re searching for information,” says Gwinn-Becker, who was included on Inc.’s Female Founders 250 for 2024. “That’s what connects organizations with the audiences they want to reach.”
DEMOCRATIZING HISTORY
While receiving her Ph.D. in history, Gwinn Becker had access to hundreds of archives. These held “mountains of content,” but they weren’t accessible to the public because of the antiquated research process, which is based in a traditional library system. She found that accessing these resources required a limited, academic approach, shutting out much of the population. This insight informed HistoryIT’s mission to democratize history by “making the public historical record just as accessible, searchable, and meaningful to a fifth grader as it is to a professional researcher,” says Gwinn-Becker.
“We live in an era of fake news and soundbites that skew information, so there’s a demand for access to evidence. Primary sources allow people to draw their own conclusions and find new stories in that content,” she says. “We help organizations share those primary sources with the public, which builds trust through transparency.”
Whether they are working with a Junior League, sports team, educational institution, or other organization, the team at HistoryIT uses those primary source archival materials to take the client’s audience on a journey. A sorority may tell stories about women in higher education through the lens of philanthropy, or an NFL team may share how their players have positively impacted a community.
“We’ve had clients raise millions of dollars with our digital archives because they’re able to create new connections or nurture existing relationships, especially with donors,” says Gwinn-Becker. “We love to help organizations tell stories through the information we share.”
HistoryIT’s 2023 Impact:
4,830,614 archival items digitally preserved
37,315,236 metadata tags applied
33 digital museums launched
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SOURCE: HistoryIT
