Jesse Saunders Blog #8: The Massachusetts Historical Society: Images of the Antislavery Movement in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Historical Society | Images of the Antislavery Movement in Massachusetts

This exhibit by the Massachusetts Historical Society displays images and digitized renderings of a variety of mediums including: artifacts, broadsides, engravings/prints, manuscripts, covers (envelopes), photographs, portraits, and sculptures. A majority of the images are portraits and sculptures of individuals active in the abolitionist movement, however there are also a large number of other material and object in the collection which are not usually encompassed by a digitization project. The exhibition begins with a page describing the collection and a brief scope of the materials, which leads the user to a "browse by format" page which offers individual links to the materials highlighted and their related collections.

Selection Decisions
Through the wording on the website, it appears as though all materials in the Massachusetts Historical Society's collection related to Anti-slavery movement have been digitized. On first glance at item list it appears that not all are available, as users are required to click through to the archival finding aid to gain access to all of the engravings, photographs, and portraits.

Metadata
Each individual item's page contains metadata regarding its creation (creator, city, date, etc - as much as is known), format, size, and a brief description. No data is given regarding the creation of the digital images, how or by whom the images were made, or on what equipment.

Object Characteristics
The objects are displayed on the Massachusetts Historical Society website in a fairly basic, html format, without ContentDM or any major organizational software. The images are in jpeg format, and can be viewed in either small or large (the large being very high-res) format depending on the needs of the user. All images are watermarked with a statement regarding ownership by the society and prohibiting reproduction.

Intended Audience
Due to the size of the collection (nearly 850 objects), these materials could be useful for anyone from a middle school social studies class to a serious researcher. For those on the younger end, it would be helpful for the historical society to develop some instructor materials to help teachers lead students through materials, particularly as some contain images and phrases, which while acceptable at in the context of the day, could be seen as offensive today.