Sam Powell - Abaset Collections: restoring ma’at to the Egypt Centre Online Collection

The idea for a new online catalogue for the Egypt Centre arose in 2019. Sam Powell, a volunteer at the museum and Egyptology student, spotted the potential for a more flexible and dynamic way of the accessing the collection virtually during her own research. The Egypt Centre’s previous online catalogue had been created in 2005 and provided limited information on each object.

Working closely with museum staff, Sam designed a new online catalogue to better meet the changing needs of the diverse audience the museum caters to. This need for virtual access became greater than anticipated due to the temporary closure of the museum to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary means of access to the objects. As a result, the launch of the new Online Collection was accelerated to October 2020 rather than its scheduled March 2021 launch.

This presentation will celebrate the ongoing successes of the Egypt Centre Online Collection, highlighting the impact of the many features designed specifically for this collection to improve accessibility and virtual engagement with the objects for a range of audiences including researchers and the general public from around the world. It will also include a sneak preview of the new Harrogate Online Collection, which will be launched as part of this event.