User:KThibodeau
From Digital-JumpStart
Kate Thibodeau is currently a Historical Consultant. Her project is based on her career as City Historian for the City of Holyoke, MA until December 2009. Visit www.creatingholyoke.org.
After four years of planning, Wistariahurst and the Holyoke Public Library History Room & Archives launched a collaborative digital collections website Creating Holyoke (www.creatingholyoke.org). The primary purpose of the Holyoke Public Library History Room & Archive is to promote the study of Holyoke, Massachusetts from its inception to the present. The collections housed are part of the heritage of Holyoke and are of permanent value to the community. The archive exists to serve the residents of the city by selecting, organizing, preserving, and making available on a limited basis, appropriate print and non-print materials that record our knowledge, ideas, and culture which will aid the residents of the city in the pursuit of educational, informational, research on local, genealogical and/or historical issues. The vision at Wistariahurst is to collect the stories that weave together a community history. Through its collections, research, exhibits and programs, the museum is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of the history and material culture of the William Skinner Family, members of the manufacturing elite, the working class who made that lifestyle possible and the Holyoke region where those people lived. Our goal as a museum is to encourage the public to encounter, enjoy and learn from the varied experiences and cultural expression of the people who gave the Holyoke area its distinct character. Having no funding and limited staff time, the two institutions looked to Omeka and Wikis in order to provide local educators, scholars, and researchers access to two separate collections on the History of Holyoke.
