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Information Services Department Records
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Held at: Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives [Contact Us]Philadelphia Museum of Art, PO Box 7646, Philadelphia, PA 19101-7646
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The earliest reference to the Museum's adoption of any type of electronic support was in the 1982-1984 Annual Report. It notes that Susanna D. Roberts worked in the Administrative Services office as the lone word processing operator. In 1991, the Museum established an Information Systems department, which consisted of a manager, Robert Leming, and Oscar Gunther, Alexander Ryabin and William Taylor Howard as parti-time computer assistants. Two years later, the department's title was changed to Technical Services and its personnel grew to include audio-visual and telephone technicians. In 1997, William Weinstein joined the Museum to manage its newly created Computer Servcies department. Telephone ("Voice") and audio-visual systems were now a separate office. Two year later, the department began operating as Information Services, and Weinstein was named Director. As of the 2006 Annual Report, Weinstein continues to serve as Director of the department, which now is staffed with Database and Network administrators, a Help Desk supervisor and technician, and a Business Systems coordinator.
In addition to this staff is another office, Collections Information System Project. The project was initiated in 1999 and began with an 18-member committee comprised of curators, conservators, registrars, educators and librarians coming together to select a centralized database system to manage, catalogue and provide access to the Museum's 300,000+ works of art. Jenny Wilker joined the Museum that first year to manage the project, which resulted in the Museum's implementation of "TMS" (The Museum System) database. Wilker retired at the end of 2006. The office, with a staff of approximatley 10, continues to update and expand on its electronic collection management capabilities.
These are the records of Jenny Wilker, who was manager of the Collections Information Systems Project until her retirement in 2006. Material includes database proposals and samples of the newsletter Wilker issued for a time as an update of the project's progress.
These materials were arranged and described by Bertha Adams and Susan Anderson. Funded by a grant from The Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Organization
- Publisher
- Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Bertha Adams and Susan Anderson
- Finding Aid Date
- ©2009
- Sponsor
- Funded by a grant from The Institute of Museum and Library Services
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research. Access to institutional records less than 10 years old is at the discretion of the Archivist.
- Use Restrictions
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The Information Services Department Records are the physical property of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Archives. The Museum holds literary rights only for material created by Museum personnel or given to the Museum with such rights specifically assigned. For all other material, literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. Researchers are responsible for obtaining permission from rights holders for publication and for other purposes where stated.