This collection of oral histories is intended to shine a light on the behind-the-scenes activities of museum technology professionals with a focus on the invisible work of museum computing. The stories collected here provide valuable insights into the wide-ranging responsibilities and all-too-often unseen activities of museum technology workers around the world from the 1960s to the present day.
These oral histories were collected by Paul Marty and Kathy Jones, and are shared here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY), which allows for their unrestricted reuse provided that appropriate credit is given to the original source. For more information about this project, please contact Paul Marty at marty@fsu.edu, or Kathy Jones at kathy_jones@harvard.edu.
Greg Albers (recorded March 29, 2021)
Memories from the J. Paul Getty Trust, and more, from the 2010s forward.
Jane Alexander (recorded March 26, 2021)
Memories from the Cleveland Museum of Art, and more, from the 2010s forward.
Howard Besser (recorded April 12 & May 14, 2021)
Memories from the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, Canadian Center for Architecture, and more, from the 1970s forward.
Jonathan Bowen (recorded March 1, 2021)
Memories from the Science Museum, Museums and the Web, and more, from the 1980s forward.
David Bridge (recorded March 1, 2021)
Memories from the Smithsonian Institution, and more, from the 1960s forward.
Lori Byrd-McDevitt (recorded May 7, 2021)
Memories from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Wikipedia Foundation, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Seb Chan (recorded March 4, 2021)
Memories from the Powerhouse Museum, Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, ACMI, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Kate Collen (recorded May 10, 2021)
Memories from the National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Aaron Straup Cope (recorded February 12 & March 29, 2021)
Memories from the SFO Museum, Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and more, from the 2010s forward.
Ruth Cuadra (recorded March 22, 2021)
Memories from Cuadra (STAR) Associates, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and more, from the 1970s forward.
Costis Dallas (recorded May 3, 2021)
Memories from the Benaki Museum, CIDOC-CRM (ICOM), the University of Toronto, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Max Evjen (recorded March 15, 2021)
Memories from Arizona State University, the Shedd Aquarium, the Michigan State University Museum, and more, from the 2010s forward.
Silvia Filippini Fantoni (recorded April 12, 2021)
Memories from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, Newark Museum of Art, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Eleanor Fink (recorded March 5, 2021)
Memories from the Smithsonian Institution, J. Paul Getty Trust, and more, from the 1970s forward.
Diana Folsom (recorded April 2, 2021)
Memories from the LA County Museum of Art, the University of Oklahoma Gilcrease Museum, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Megan Forbes (recorded March 8, 2021)
Memories from the Museum of the Moving Image, LYRASIS, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Jeff Gates (recorded February 15, 2021)
Memories from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Cathryn Goodwin (recorded April 9, 2021)
Memories from the St. Louis Art Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Josh Gorman (recorded May 28, 2021)
Memories from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Michael Haley Goldman (recorded February 19, 2021)
Memories from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Douglas Hegley (recorded May 17, 2021)
Memories from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Cathy Heller (recorded September 24, 2021)
Memories of her father (Jack Heller) from SUNY-Stony Brook’s Institute for Computer Research in the Humanities, the Museum Computer Network, and more, from the 1960s forward.
Nik Honeysett (recorded April 5, 2021)
Memories from Cogapp, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the Balboa Park Online Collaborative, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Deborah Howes (recorded March 12, 2021)
Memories from the Art Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Kathy Jones (recorded July 16 & 23, 2021)
Memories from the Florida State Historic Preservation Office, the Harvard University Peabody Museum, and more, from the 1970s forward.
Norbert Kanter (recorded April 30, 2021)
Memories from the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Sarah Kenderdine (recorded April 30, 2021)
Memories from the West Australian Maritime Museum, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Rob Lancefield (recorded May 21, 2021)
Memories from the Wesleyan University Davison Art Center, the Yale Center for British Art, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Andrea Ledesma (recorded April 2, 2021)
Memories from the National Archives, the Field Museum, and more, from the 2010s forward.
Matthew MacArthur (recorded April 19, 2021)
Memories from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Martha Mahard (recorded February 26, 2021)
Memories from the Harvard University Fine Arts Library, the Boston Public Library, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Shelley Mannion (recorded May 28, 2021)
Memories from the British Museum, the University of Lugano TEC-CH Program, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Paul Marty (recorded June 18 & 25, 2021)
Memories from the University of Illinois, Florida State University, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Darren Milligan (recorded March 19, 2021)
Memories from the Smithsonian Learning Lab, Smithsonian Institution, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Marla Misunas (recorded February 22, 2021)
Memories from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Dana Mitroff Silvers (recorded May 21, 2021)
Memories from the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Chuck Patch (recorded April 16, 2021)
Memories from the Historic Collection of New Orleans, the Museum Computer Network, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Sam Quigley (recorded March 8, 2021)
Memories from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Harvard University Art Museums, the Art Institute, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Mia Ridge (recorded April 9, 2021)
Memories from the Melbourne Museum, Museum of London, Science Museum, British Library, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Richard Rinehart (recorded May 14, 2021)
Memories from the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, the Samek Art Museum, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Peter Samis, Susie Wise, and Tim Svenonius (recorded May 7, 2021)
Memories from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Scott Sayre (recorded March 5, 2021)
Memories from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Tina Shah (recorded May 24, 2021)
Memories from the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Field Museum, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Koven Smith (recorded February 26, 2021)
Memories from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Marty Spellerberg (recorded February 5, 2021)
Memories from the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and more, from the 2000s forward.
Rob Weisberg (recorded April 23, 2021)
Memories from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and more, from the 1990s forward.
Layna White (recorded May 10, 2021)
Memories from the UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Holly Witchey (recorded March 22, 2021)
Memories from the San Diego Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Bruce Wyman (recorded February 8, 2021)
Memories from the New England Aquarium, Denver Art Museum, and more, from the 1980s forward.
Diane Zorich (recorded May 24, 2021)
Memories from the Harvard University Peabody Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and more, from the 1980s forward.