National Museum Of Transportation

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF TRANSPORTATION WILL UNDERTAKE A PROJECT TO DIGITIZE APPROXIMATELY 25,000 ORIGINAL BLUEPRINTS AND ENGINEERING DRAWINGS PRODUCED BY RAIL CAR MANUFACTURERS FROM THE LATE NINETEENTH TO THE MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY. OVER THE COURSE OF THIS 24-MONTH PROJECT, MUSEUM STAFF AND CONSULTANTS WILL: INVENTORY AND ORGANIZE THIS COLLECTION; SELECT APPROXIMATELY HALF OF THE BLUEPRINTS AND DRAWINGS IN THE COLLECTION BASED ON IMPORTANCE AND CONDITION ISSUES; AND SCAN THE ITEMS, CREATING A MASTER COPY, STANDARD COPY, AND BITMAP FILE. ONCE SCANNED, THE FILES WILL BE STORED IN A COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT DATABASE AND WILL BE EASILY ACCESSIBLE TO STAFF, RESEARCHERS, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF TRANSPORTATION WILL UPDATE LABELS FOR ABOUT 100 ARTIFACTS TO MODERNIZE THEIR INTERPRETATION WITH MORE INTERPRETIVE AND EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE TO ENGAGE AND PROVIDE CONTEXT FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC. THE OBJECT LABELS CURRENTLY USED TO DESCRIBE THE MUSEUM?S LARGE-SCALE ARTIFACT COLLECTION WERE CREATED IN THE LATE 90S; SINCE THEN, MANY LABELS HAVE BEEN DAMAGED OR LOST. IN ADDITION, THE MUSEUM HAS SEEN NEW AUDIENCES TAKE AN INTEREST IN ITS COLLECTION IN RECENT YEARS. AS THE MUSEUM HAS DEVELOPED NEW EXHIBITS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS APPEALING TO A WIDER AUDIENCE SUCH AS CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, LABELS NEED TO BE RE-WRITTEN TO HELP ALL GUESTS ACCESS AND CONNECT TO THE MUSEUM?S RAIL HERITAGE COLLECTION