Journey from excel spreadsheet to Trove Partner
Trove continues to grow as more organisations become Trove Partners and share their collections with the Australian public and beyond. Becoming a Trove Partner is easy, however some organisations may not be entirely Trove ready when they start their journey. Even though our entry level Trove Partner Content Contributor package is free of annual and establishment fees, becoming Trove ready requires organisations to meet a few prerequisites. Organisations wishing to use this entry level package will need to be using a compatible online collection management system (CMS) and to have a portion of their collection already catalogued in this system. Learn more our Content Contributor package and how to become Trove ready.
Recently The Royal Society of Tasmania joined Trove as a Content Contributor Trove Partner. The Royal Society of Tasmania holds a valuable collection of artworks. Due to this collection’s fragile nature these artworks were not widely accessible to researchers or the public. The collection was being stored safely by another organisation and a few years ago the society reclaimed it with the aim of cataloguing and documenting the items so they could be discoverable online.
Marley Large, Art Coordinator at The Royal Society of Tasmania, told us:
‘The art collection, mostly 19th-century works on paper, includes over 900 items, many of which have never been exhibited and because of their fragile condition, some possibly will never be hung on a gallery wall. However, the collection still offers valuable insights into Tasmania’s eventful, artistic and social history…’
When they started their journey, the Society had digital images of most pieces in the collection but otherwise were starting this project from scratch. They didn’t have any collection records or any form of a collection management system (CMS). The Honorary Curator, Dr Anita Hansen started small by creating an excel spreadsheet to bring together as much information as they could about each piece in the collection. This was the start of their CMS.
After researching options for an online CMS, the Society settled on eHive, a popular CMS for smaller and volunteer run organisations. The eHive platform has a user-friendly interface and gives organisations the ability to make edits or changes at any time, both features the Society were looking for.
After receiving a grant for the eHive subscription (from the Community Heritage Grants program) and other necessary computer hardware, the Society set up a working group to start transferring the data from the spreadsheet to eHive. This working group's enormous effort has resulted in the full collection of artwork now being available online on the eHive platform.
When the Society heard about Trove’s Content Contributor Trove Partner package, they reached out, knowing it was the logical next step in their project to make this collection discoverable in the full context of Australia’s cultural history.
Marley shared with us about what it means to have this collection available online:
‘Currently The Royal Society of Tasmania does not have its own exhibition gallery and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s resources (where the collection is housed) are stretched to the limit. The opportunity to make the collection available digitally is a game-changer…’
‘It is a major achievement for a small, volunteer-led, non-for-profit organisation – and a testament to what community dedication can achieve.’
‘These works no longer remain in the dark in solander boxes never to be viewed. They can now come to life and be seen and enjoyed via their online presence.’
‘In our case, the story really boils down to being brave enough to make the commitment with perseverance, lots of forward planning, willing hands and minds. The rewards have been enormous and have opened our minds to so many other possibilities to fulfil our purpose.’
‘For instance, we currently have a 4-phase program of a travelling regional art exhibition called ‘Hidden Treasures’ which displays various prints local to the area. Another major effort which is nearing completion is the production of a hardcopy catalogue of the entire Royal Society Art Collection to be published in 2026.’
Are you interested in learning more about the Trove Partner Content Contributor package? We recently hosted a webinar that covers the various benefits of joining and how to become Trove ready if you’re not there yet. Access the recording. When you click on the link, you will be directed to a login page. There’s no need to login, just click on ‘Want to explore the site? Login as a guest’ and navigate to the Content Contributor section.
Check out The Royal Society of Tasmania’s online collection.