Town History Archive Website
Build a community history archive that digitizes and preserves local records, photos, and stories. Omeka is purpose-built for this and free to use with Omeka.net hosting.
500Items
5Years
Collect the Materials
Partner with the local library, historical society, and senior center. Run a community scanning day where residents bring family photos. Accept donations of physical documents and photographs.
Digitize Everything
Scan photos at 600 DPI minimum. Use a flatbed scanner for documents. Create a consistent file naming convention before you start. Back up to two locations immediately after scanning.
Publish the Archive
Use Omeka or a WordPress site with image galleries. Add metadata to every item: date, location, people, event. Enable community comments so residents can add context to photos they recognize.
Launch Checklist
Register a domain with the town name and history or archive
Set up Omeka.net or install Omeka S on shared hosting
Create item metadata schema before adding any items
Hold a community scanning day at the library
Add 50 items with full metadata before going public
Submit site to state historical society for linking
Write a press release for the local paper
Oral history recordings are as valuable as photographs. A simple USB microphone and Audacity can capture interviews with longtime residents. Store audio as lossless FLAC with MP3 copies for the web.
