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SOURCE EMC Corporation
Collection will be Available as an Online Resource for Researchers
Looking for Information on Forestry, Farming and Mining
TORONTO, March 5, 2013 /CNW/ - EMC Corporation today announced The Lumby
Historical Society in Lumby, B.C., was one of three organizations
receiving an EMC Heritage Trust Project grant through the company's Information Heritage Initiative program. The fall cycle of the 2012 grants, totaling $30,000, supports
projects that encourage the stewardship of cultural information in
local communities.
Through its Information Heritage Initiative, EMC has donated more than
$20 million to date to help advance the conservation of information
heritage.
"Over the years the EMC Heritage Trust Project has helped preserve seven
important local Canadian collections ranging from unique vintage films
of the Canadian National Exhibition to historical artifacts from one of
Canada's First Nations," said Michael Sharun, Managing Director of EMC
Canada. "We're proud we are able to play a role in protecting and
improving access to important heritage pieces for Canadian
communities."
The Lumby Historical Society, which runs a small, rural museum, will use
its $10,000 grant to digitize photographs and taped interviews
depicting the 100-year history of the mining, logging and farming
community. The grant will also help pay for a professional archivist to
train the museum's volunteer staff on archival practices.
"The museum currently has one picture in its digital database and many
photos and taped interviews with senior citizens on the history of
Lumby that are deteriorating and threatened by flooding" said Robin
Ledrew, director of the Monashee Arts Council, a non-profit society
that promotes arts and culture in the Lumby area. "The Heritage Trust
grant will allow us to digitize the collection, preserving it for
future generations and making it more accessible to Lumby's citizens
and outside researchers."
Once the collection is available online it will be tagged under subjects
such as "farming," "forestry" and "gold mining" giving researchers and
students around the world interested in such topics a new source of
information.
Facebook page helped drive support
To help drive support for its effort to obtain an EMC Heritage Trust
grant, the historical society created a Facebook page called, "Help
Georgie go Digital." The page features sepia-toned photos of the
museum's part-time volunteer, Georgie Hay, in a wig and vintage
clothing working on a typewriter and standing by large document boxes.
The Facebook page and outreach to Lumby's local media helped drive
community support for Lumby's grant proposal.
"Lumby is a small town, but people have a strong sense of community
pride and an interest in the area's history," Ledrew said. "Two books
of Lumby anecdotes and photos we produced still generate commissions
and we publish a calendar every year that features a selection of the
museum's photo collection."
The EMC Information Heritage Initiative program was founded in 2007 to
recognize organizations and individuals that protect and preserve
cultural information from around the world through digitization,
allowing readily accessible online research and education. Using the
same criteria for excellence that guide the initiative, the EMC
Heritage Trust Project was created to recognize and support people and
projects that practice and inspire the digital stewardship of the
world's information heritage.
The EMC Heritage Trust Project grant recipients were selected based on
the following criteria: potential size of the audience that would
benefit from access to the information they are seeking to protect; the
at-risk status of the information and why it is urgent to digitize; and
how beneficial the EMC grant would be to the overall success of the
project.
The EMC Heritage Trust Project will continue in 2013. For more
information on the application process for the EMC Heritage Trust
Project, visit: http://www.canada.emc.com/corporate/sustainability/strengthening-communities/heritage.htm.
About EMC
EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service
providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service.
Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey
to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect
and analyze their most valuable asset - information - in a more agile,
trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be
found at www.EMC.com
EMC Canada (www.EMC2.ca), headquartered in Toronto with seven offices from coast to coast, is a
wholly owned subsidiary of EMC Corporation.
Follow us at: www.twitter.com/PreservingInfo
EMC is a registered trademark of EMC Corporation in the United States
and other countries. All other trademarks used are the property of
their respective owners.
Previous Canadian Winners:
U'Mista Cultural Society: http://canada.emc.com/about/news/press/canada/2008/03182008.htm
CNE Archives: http://canada.emc.com/about/news/press/canada/2009/20090826.htm
ARCHEION: http://canada.emc.com/about/news/press/canada/2010/20100510.htm
Education Heritage Museum: http://canada.emc.com/about/news/press/canada/2010/20100510.htm
C.B. "Bud" Johnson Library: http://canada.emc.com/about/news/press/canada/2011/10112011-library-digitize.htm
The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford: http://canada.emc.com/about/news/press/2012/20121023.htm
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