

Digitized special collections archives are discoverable largely through full-text search via indexing and categorical methods of librarianship expressed in finding aid arrangement, which privileges established terms and inherited description. By contrast, this work is a computational arrangement method that compares clustered sentence embedding structures to promote discovery when lexicon and semantic terms differ. We explore modeling texts as a graph of directed semantic displacements in a vector embedding space and conceptualize sections of these graphs as an extrinsically comparable morphism. We evaluate these graph structures as a semiotic medium by comparing alignments across graphs from various types of OCR texts, and language-like noise datasets. Findings suggest potential interoperative value in morphism aligned text. Work sees potential applications for interdisciplinary discovery and unsupervised archival arrangement.

The Harvard Plate Stacks (HPS) Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection comprises over 600,000 glass plate negatives. To support collection preservation and improve accessibility, HPS integrated an advanced imaging system to digitize astronomical features in the emulsion layer, as well as annotations made by pioneering Women Astronomical Computers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. HPS installed a multispectral imaging system to capture high-quality images of astronomical features dating back to the 1880s, along with their historical annotation, to advance both astronomical and cultural heritage research. This digitization of glass plate negatives builds upon 20 years of advanced imaging methodologies and technologies, using the latest equipment and workflows. This includes new post-processing techniques, data management, and workflows across discipline boundaries by a collaborative team.


The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Freedmen’s Bureau Project is a comprehensive initiative that has provided digital access to the Freedmen’s Bureau records. Previously, this important collection could only be accessed in person through the National Archives and Records Administration, with no way to search for specific people or topics. Smithsonian staff have worked with the public to index and transcribe the records to provide free full-text access to these invaluable records. To date over 600,000 pages of Freedmen’s Bureau records have been collaboratively transcribed by more than 60,000 individual volunteers. This data has been made available to the public for research in the Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal. This groundbreaking search application is the result of more than a decade of data creation, processing, and cleaning; transcription; community engagement; and historical and genealogical research. The work of Smithsonian staff is ongoing and emerging technologies present exciting opportunities to expand access and continue to enable meaningful discoveries.

Museums are digitizing their collections of 3D objects. Video games provide the technology to interact with these objects, but the educational goals of a museum are often at odds with the creative forces in a traditional game for entertainment. Efforts to bridge this gap have either settled on serious games with diminished entertainment value or have relied on historical fictions that blur the line between reality and fantasy. The Vessel project is a 3D game designed around puzzle mechanics that remains a game for entertainment while realizing the benefits of incorporating digitized artifacts from a museum. We explore how the critical thinking present in solving puzzles can still encourage engagement of the story the artifacts have to tell without creating an historical fiction. Preliminary results show a preference for our in-game digital interaction over a traditional gallery and a desire to learn more about the artifacts after playing.

The past year of off-site telework allowed Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD) staff to do a deep dive into serious considerations about data analytics and data visualizations. Much of this work related to utilizing the tools we had available, linking the visualizations to data analytics for cultural heritage and heritage science research projects, with a strong focus on how best to adapt visualizations for specific audiences, ranging from scientific colleagues, conservation and collection care, interested public, and personnel wanting to use the information for a range of decision-making functions. Some of the factors we assessed related to the amount of information or data presented, whether to present minimal data with hover-over functionality to encourage exploration or allow different views for different audiences, what was “too much” data, what programs people were familiar with and the types of presentations, graphs, scatterplots, bar-charts, interactives etc. Significant discussions and reworking of visualizations answered some questions, while exposing many more.

Historic properties face challenges preserving and maintaining their physical heritage, as well as digitally sharing and accessing their history in a virtual environment. They are now utilizing new advanced imaging methods to research their cultural heritage artifacts. Recent advanced imaging in historic Civil War-era houses demonstrated the integration of imaging techniques and data to support conservation of these structures and research into their history and contents. New technical systems, including the latest narrowband multispectral imaging systems and higher resolution cameras, raise major challenges in not only the integration of new technologies, but also the ability to store, manage and access large amounts of data. Integration, preservation, access and collaboration with the image data from this program requires implementation of standardized digitization and data archiving practices.