Digital Museum

BACKGROUND

AHS is an unusual historic society. Most other similarly named organizations in the country own and operate traditional walk-in museums and historic sites. Alexandria is unusual in that the City government itself has taken on the responsibility of protecting, preserving, and presenting our amazing multi-layered history through its Office of Historic Alexandria.  As an all-volunteer, non-profit organization, AHS sees its mission as offering elements of local history that might not be covered by other Alexandria historic entities (of which there are many) and when possible highlighting and supporting their work.  Over our 50+ year existence AHS has shared research on local history primarily by presenting lectures and publishing thousands of pages in our Alexandria Chronicle. We maintain no records other than what we have produced and own no artifacts or buildings. The coming of the internet has allowed us to now share decades of our printed publications and several years of videos from live lectures. Now, thanks again to technology advancements, we wish to expand our offerings in a Digital Museum.

WHAT IS A DIGITAL MUSEUM?

The Alexandria Historical Society's new digital museum will trace the story of our Port City from the Indigenous nations that called the area home for thousands of years to the Alexandrians who continue to make history today. The exhibit will accomplish several goals:

• Serve as a one-stop shop for stories about the Port City, from Old Town to the West End, accessible to anyone anytime with an internet connection. 

• Provide new ways to connect people to AHS Chronicle articles, YouTube videos, and other resources.

• Connect visitors to other historical organizations, historic sites, and historic landmarks in the city.

Always open, the AHS Digital Museum will always have the space to add more exhibits. Each section will cover one topic with a number of short stories about an element of the main topic such as in the example below of stories focusing on Alexandria during the Civil War. As you can see in the bottom right corner, there is always space to add a new story suggested by a visitor's questions.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE IN OUR DIGITAL MUSEUM?

If you have an idea about a topic you would like to see in the AHS Digital Museum, please let us know about it by filling out this MY IDEA for the AHS Digital Museum.

EXAMPLES

Other historic organizations have developed their own virtual museums. Here are some you might find interesting:

• Indiana Historical Society | You Are There

• Johnson County Museum |  INFORMAL BARRIERS TO THE SUBURBS

• Missouri Historical Society | Making Missouri

YOUR NO-COST INPUT TO THE AHS DIGITAL MUSEUM

As more and more people turn to the digital world to explore history, AHS's new virtual museum will allow us to connect with new audiences and provide longtime members with a fresh look at our collective history. We need your help to "build" our museum by letting us know what local history stories you would like to see or questions you would like answered. To do so please contribute a Digital Museum Brick by sending us a short email with about a story you would like to see or that nagging question you have always wondered about. As with physical museums, it will take time to put all these bricks together, but we will let you know what is happening as our building grows.