Silicon Valley digital museum hits Internet

By Lance Dwyer

A collaborative committee comprised of seven institutions, including Santa Clara, launched a Web site designed to make the history of the Silicon Valley accessible to the public late last month.

Silicon Valley History Online is designed to hold up to 8,000 historical images as well as information about the valley's history. Developers hope to have more than 1,000 images uploaded by October, but only a fraction of that number are currently online.

The project took shape after the committee â€" comprised of the Santa Clara City Library, History San Jose, the Intel Museum, the California History Center, the California Room of the San Jose Public Library and San Jose State University Special Collections â€" received a $144,000 grant from the California State Library in September of last year.

The committee asked the Institute of Museum and Library Services last week to help ensure the longevity and expanded scope of the project by requesting additional funding, according to Anne McMahon, university archivist and member of the project's executive committee.

Santa Clara's primary contribution to the project is in storing the site on the school's server for the duration of the two-year grant, but McMahon said the university will be able to support the Web site as long as the current platform is used to support Santa Clara's own archives. Santa Clara selected 125 images from its database of more than 100,000 images to host on the site.

McMahon said Santa Clara's development of the site allowed smaller institutions lacking the same resources to share their history with the Silicon Valley community and beyond.

Paula Jabloner, History of San Jose archivist and one of the leading figures in the project, said Santa Clara was one of the most active institutions in the planning of the site.

"Without Santa Clara, we wouldn't have been able to do it," Jabloner said. "They have the technical expertise that made this project possible."

The initial grant for the project took four months to complete. Each of the seven institutions worked together and took advantage of each other's expertise in order to create the most inclusive archive possible, Jabloner said.

One of the most difficult parts of the entire process was convincing the State Library that the project was important and ensuring that it would be a success, according to Jabloner.

Of the $144,000 awarded, Jabloner said 50 percent of the funding goes toward staffing. Two people were hired for the project, including a cataloger and another in charge of scanning and posting the images.

Additional costs include fees for scanning and basic supplies, which account for the majority of the remainder of the grant, Jabloner said.

The second grant, if awarded from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will cover additional maintenance costs, such as Web and technical support, McMahon said.

In addition to more images, administrators say they are hoping to add lesson plans to the page. Jabloner said one of the most significant goals for the archive is to serve as a resource for education.

Eventually, any teacher focusing on the history of the Silicon Valley will be able to use the Web site as a resource for up to a week's worth of classroom lessons.

McMahon said the Silicon Valley archive is designed to instill "some sense of the history of Santa Clara in a wider context."

Silicon Valley History Online can be found online at: http://www.siliconvalleyhistory.org

û Contact Lance Dwyer at (408) 554-4546 or ldwyer@scu.edu.