Museum Collections Management Case Studies
Explore our museum collections management case studies for compelling, firsthand accounts from Gallery Systems clients, sharing their collections management experiences. Learn how museum professionals tackle collection care challenges, from enhancing cataloguing standards and creating online collections, to implementing digital asset management systems, and orchestrating collection moves.
Glencairn Museum Case Study
Migrating to TMS Collections from its former CMS
Glencairn Museum serves as a not-for-profit museum of religious art and history which stewards extensive collections of ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, medieval Christian, Islamic, Asian, and Native American arts. The team recently decided to step up the management of their 10,000-object collection by upgrading from their previous collection management system [...]
20-Year Client Anniversary with Zurich University of the Arts
An Interview with Judith Scheiber Dahou, IT Project Manager
Zurich University of the Arts is a leading arts university in Europe that has the unique benefit of having its own museum, the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. The museum is the sole institution in Switzerland that, from 1875 onwards, has collected posters, graphic design and objects that represent quotidian design [...]
Blanton Museum of Art Case Study
Transitioning to a New Collections Management System
The Blanton Museum of Art recently took a step up with its collections management. As long-time users of EmbARK and EmbARK Web Kiosk, the team members decided to upgrade their collections management system to TMS Collections and their online collections software to eMuseum […]
Royal Ontario Museum Case Study
Migrating Canada’s Largest Natural History Collection to a New Database
Read how the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), one of Toronto’s most acclaimed institutions, successfully completed the ambitious project of transferring 15 databases into a single collections management solution, The Museum System (TMS) and eMuseum […]
Louisiana State Museum Case Study
Centralizing Collections Management across Multiple Museums
Streamlining collections management within a single institution can be challenging, let alone for the Louisiana State Museum (LSM), an interconnected network of national landmarks. Comprised of long-time TMS users, the LSM team opted to upgrade to TMS Collections, while also adopting TMS Media Studio and managed hosting [...]
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Creating a Versatile Online Collection with eMuseum
A relative newcomer to the cultural heritage institutions scene, Crystal Bridges Museum was interested in quickly raising its public profile. The Museum sought out creative ways to share its expansive collection of American art, spanning five centuries from the Colonial era into our [...]
Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design
Recreating the Visitor Experience Online with eMuseum
The feelings of awe invoked by stepping into a museum such as Honolulu’s Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design, transported to new worlds as you encounter each gallery and its objects, can be indescribable [...]
Suzie Zuzek, Lilly Pulitzer, and The Suzie Zuzek Project
Discovering the Artist Behind an Iconic American Look
Imagine a chance encounter launching you into the art world after discovering a 6,000-object archive of work by a brilliant, yet largely unknown artist. This is the course Becky Smith’s life took in 2007 when she first encountered Suzie Zuzek and her iconic textile [...]
M+ Case Study
Illuminating the Archives
M+, a new museum in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District, has set out to become one of the world's largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture and has spent the last several years collecting objects from around the globe. M+ also acquires [...]
The Frick Collection Case Study
Preparing for Implementing Conservation Software
The Frick Collection, located in New York City’s Upper East Side neighborhood, is one of the most well-known museums in the world, with a collection specializing in Old Master paintings and European sculpture and decorative arts predominantly dating from the 14th to 18th century. Henry Clay Frick, who built the Frick mansion as his home [...]
The imai Foundation
Cataloguing Time Based Media
The City of Düsseldorf established the inter media art institute (imai Foundation) in 2006 as an archive to care for an acquired video collection. The archive contains around 3,000 works of Time Based Media art, and provides context to the history of Time Based Media from the 1970s [...]
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
How a New DAMS Software Upgrade is Streamlining Workflows at MFAH
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, (MFAH) was founded in 1900 and opened to the public in 1924 with a mandate to bring “art into the everyday life” of the Houston community. Today, the museum boasts the largest art collection in the southwest region [...]
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University
Promoting Teaching and Research Through Excellence in Collections Management
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is among the oldest museums of its type in the world, and is home to one of the finest collections of human cultural history [...]
The J. Paul Getty Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Joint Ownership of the Mapplethorpe Collection: Best Practices in Learning How to Share
In 2011, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) jointly acquired a collection of over 2,000 works by Robert Mapplethorpe from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation (RMF). This historic acquisition is unique in many [...]
The Munch Museum
Barcoding Best Practices When Moving House
Opened in 1963, the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, is dedicated to the life and work of expressionist pioneer Edvard Munch. The museum maintains the most comprehensive collection of works by Munch, including approximately 1,100 paintings, 7,000 drawings, and 18,000 prints [...]
Chapman University Art Collections
Cataloguing a Museum without Walls
Chapman University Art Collections is a unique group of collections that functions through the lens of education and consists of the Phyllis & Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art, the Chapman Campus Collection, and the new Hilbert Museum of California Art [...]
Stark Museum of Art
Preserving, Cataloguing, and Sharing Rare Books with Collections Management Software
The Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas, was the vision of collectors H.J. Lutcher Stark and Nelda C. Stark. Opened in 1978, the Stark collection is focused on “the stunning land, dramatic people, and diverse wildlife of the American West.” Allison Evans, the Stark’s Collections Manager [...]
California Department of Parks and Recreation Case Study
Using Barcode Technology to Track Collections during a Relocation Move
The California Department of Parks and Recreation, otherwise known as California State Parks, has a mandate to preserve, protect, and interpret its museum collections which includes museum objects, natural history specimens, paleontological specimens, archaeological artifacts, and archive materials [...]
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