By visiting the website www.magnes.org or going directly to www.magnesalm.org, online users may now search the collections, and retrieve information about art, objects, books, manuscripts, archival papers and photographs, their origins, history and links to Jewish and non-Jewish cultures. The over 13,000 records represent many of the objects in the museum, and the 500 collections of the Western Jewish History Center. During the fall, rare books and manuscript are also due to be available online. Useful search instructions are here: http://www.magnes.org/mco.htm
The software powering the Magnes collection database is IDEA@ALM. The first of its kind, IDEA@ALM is a unique fully integrated, multilingual, dynamic product suite for Archive-Library-Museum. Since its inception in 1999 on Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'Emek in Israel, IDEA has been involved in archive, library and museum automation, reaching a 70% market share in Israel. Magnes is the first major, U.S. installation, leveraging IDEA@ALM dynamic metadata mapping technology and core capabilities for transparent handling of physical, digital and logical information of various origins, languages, and structures. The integrated, cross-disciplinary collection information storage and retrievals model that inspires truly interdisciplinary approaches to the history of culture is already capturing the interests of cultural heritage institutions across the US.
The summation of the current stage of this important database project comes close on the heels of the Magnes having made its Archival Collection Descriptions of the Western Jewish History Center at the Magnes available for the first time online. http://www.magnes.org/wjhc/finding.htm Here you will find descriptions of the Magnes? Western Jewish archival collections. These 500+ collections document Jewish life in the Western United States (especially California) since the Gold Rush.
?This is tremendously exciting, both for the Magnes and for researchers and scholars around the world,? remarks Frances Dinkelspiel, the museum?s recently appointed Board President. ?Over the last 45 years, the Magnes has created a tremendous collection. Much of the collection has been unknown and unexamined, except for the select scholars who are able to come into the building and examine them.?
With a grant from the Toole Media Fund, the Magnes springboarded from a project that began a few years ago by digitizing several hundred objects and records from the museum?s North African and Indian collection, to what is now being recognized as a nationally significant project for its integration of archive, library and museum holdings.
The Bay Area is home to the third largest Jewish community in the United States. Jews first settled in Northern California during the Gold Rush, and have since played a very significant role in the economic and cultural development of the Western United States. The archival collections of the Magnes encompass the entire western United States beginning with the 1849 Gold Rush and continuing to the present, with a specific focus on the Jewish experience in California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Francesco Spagnolo, Director of Research and Collections writes:
Since its inception in 1962, the Magnes has strived to represent the Jewish experience in all of its manifestations: material culture, the visual arts, music, historical documents, and of course text. This has resulted in a multi-faceted collection that provides a wide-angled perspective on culture and history in the Global Jewish Diaspora. This diversity of holdings also presents a challenge. How can materials traditionally stored in distinct repositories - Archives, Libraries and Museums - all coexist under the same roof? How can they best be preserved? And, most importantly, what kind of access can be provided to them?
Over the years the Judah L. Magnes Museum has slowly and steadily built up one of the largest and most unique collections of Jewish art, life and material culture -- from ancient oil lamps to electrical camel lamps from Damascus in the 1920s. The Magnes also houses one of the finest collections of fine art and prints by Jewish artists, posters, maps and various ephemera wrap up the phenomenal collection, not well known to the broader Bay Area though known internationally to the scholarly community.
?It?s a way of releasing control of a collection and to pay tribute to the Museum?s founder Seymour Fromer,? said Magnes Chief Curator and Acting Director Dr. Alla Efimova. ?If you?re the only one who can go into the vault, you have a certain hierarchy of likes and dislikes, but once you put it out there, you realize people begin to love different images. Their attention is piqued by things different from the curator.?
About the Judah L. Magnes Museum
The Magnes is a museum of art and history focused on the Jewish experience. The Museum demonstrates a commitment to both tradition and experimentation through a wide-ranging collection, original exhibitions, provocative programs, and research facilities, including the largest history center relating to the Jews in the American West. The Magnes is a place of discovery for Jews and the community at large, and contributes to international scholarship and culture. For more information, please email research@magnes.org or call 510.549.6950 x 358. Please visit www.magnes.org to learn more about our museum and collections; on twitter @magnes
About IDEA Information Systems
IDEA is a leading international software provider for the preservation, management and exposure of heritage assets. Based on its integrated state-of-the-art ALM (Archives, Libraries, Museums) multilingual information management platform, IDEA provides an end-to-end solution, covering all aspects of heritage assets management: from document capture to enhanced classification, administration and publishing for archives, historical museums and research centers. IDEA is active in Israel, Europe and the United States.
The software powering the Magnes collection database is IDEA@ALM. The first of its kind, IDEA@ALM is a unique fully integrated, multilingual, dynamic product suite for Archive-Library-Museum. Since its inception in 1999 on Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'Emek in Israel, IDEA has been involved in archive, library and museum automation, reaching a 70% market share in Israel. Magnes is the first major, U.S. installation, leveraging IDEA@ALM dynamic metadata mapping technology and core capabilities for transparent handling of physical, digital and logical information of various origins, languages, and structures. The integrated, cross-disciplinary collection information storage and retrievals model that inspires truly interdisciplinary approaches to the history of culture is already capturing the interests of cultural heritage institutions across the US.
The summation of the current stage of this important database project comes close on the heels of the Magnes having made its Archival Collection Descriptions of the Western Jewish History Center at the Magnes available for the first time online. http://www.magnes.org/wjhc/finding.htm Here you will find descriptions of the Magnes? Western Jewish archival collections. These 500+ collections document Jewish life in the Western United States (especially California) since the Gold Rush.
?This is tremendously exciting, both for the Magnes and for researchers and scholars around the world,? remarks Frances Dinkelspiel, the museum?s recently appointed Board President. ?Over the last 45 years, the Magnes has created a tremendous collection. Much of the collection has been unknown and unexamined, except for the select scholars who are able to come into the building and examine them.?
With a grant from the Toole Media Fund, the Magnes springboarded from a project that began a few years ago by digitizing several hundred objects and records from the museum?s North African and Indian collection, to what is now being recognized as a nationally significant project for its integration of archive, library and museum holdings.
The Bay Area is home to the third largest Jewish community in the United States. Jews first settled in Northern California during the Gold Rush, and have since played a very significant role in the economic and cultural development of the Western United States. The archival collections of the Magnes encompass the entire western United States beginning with the 1849 Gold Rush and continuing to the present, with a specific focus on the Jewish experience in California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Francesco Spagnolo, Director of Research and Collections writes:
Since its inception in 1962, the Magnes has strived to represent the Jewish experience in all of its manifestations: material culture, the visual arts, music, historical documents, and of course text. This has resulted in a multi-faceted collection that provides a wide-angled perspective on culture and history in the Global Jewish Diaspora. This diversity of holdings also presents a challenge. How can materials traditionally stored in distinct repositories - Archives, Libraries and Museums - all coexist under the same roof? How can they best be preserved? And, most importantly, what kind of access can be provided to them?
Over the years the Judah L. Magnes Museum has slowly and steadily built up one of the largest and most unique collections of Jewish art, life and material culture -- from ancient oil lamps to electrical camel lamps from Damascus in the 1920s. The Magnes also houses one of the finest collections of fine art and prints by Jewish artists, posters, maps and various ephemera wrap up the phenomenal collection, not well known to the broader Bay Area though known internationally to the scholarly community.
?It?s a way of releasing control of a collection and to pay tribute to the Museum?s founder Seymour Fromer,? said Magnes Chief Curator and Acting Director Dr. Alla Efimova. ?If you?re the only one who can go into the vault, you have a certain hierarchy of likes and dislikes, but once you put it out there, you realize people begin to love different images. Their attention is piqued by things different from the curator.?
About the Judah L. Magnes Museum
The Magnes is a museum of art and history focused on the Jewish experience. The Museum demonstrates a commitment to both tradition and experimentation through a wide-ranging collection, original exhibitions, provocative programs, and research facilities, including the largest history center relating to the Jews in the American West. The Magnes is a place of discovery for Jews and the community at large, and contributes to international scholarship and culture. For more information, please email research@magnes.org or call 510.549.6950 x 358. Please visit www.magnes.org to learn more about our museum and collections; on twitter @magnes
About IDEA Information Systems
IDEA is a leading international software provider for the preservation, management and exposure of heritage assets. Based on its integrated state-of-the-art ALM (Archives, Libraries, Museums) multilingual information management platform, IDEA provides an end-to-end solution, covering all aspects of heritage assets management: from document capture to enhanced classification, administration and publishing for archives, historical museums and research centers. IDEA is active in Israel, Europe and the United States.
אידאה מערכות מידע
IDEA@ALM - מערכת מתקדמת לניהול מידע המאפשרת שילוב בין ארכיון, ספריה, מוזיאון ומאגרי מידע מגוונים אחרים.
ניהול מאגרי המידע השונים מתבצע על בסיס נתונים משותף אחד, תוך שימוש בתהליכי עבודה ומינוחים אחידים. ע"י כך מתאפשרים שקיפות, נגישות וניהול מתקדם של כל המידע והידע באירגון.
מוצר משולב זה מציע ללקוחותינו דרך גמישה ודינאמית, לפתח ערך מוסף של שרות עבור עובדי האירגון ולקוחותיו.
http://www.idea-alm.com
IDEA@ALM - מערכת מתקדמת לניהול מידע המאפשרת שילוב בין ארכיון, ספריה, מוזיאון ומאגרי מידע מגוונים אחרים.
ניהול מאגרי המידע השונים מתבצע על בסיס נתונים משותף אחד, תוך שימוש בתהליכי עבודה ומינוחים אחידים. ע"י כך מתאפשרים שקיפות, נגישות וניהול מתקדם של כל המידע והידע באירגון.
מוצר משולב זה מציע ללקוחותינו דרך גמישה ודינאמית, לפתח ערך מוסף של שרות עבור עובדי האירגון ולקוחותיו.
http://www.idea-alm.com