Finding historical information about the people and institutions in the Texas Medical Center just got easier! We’re excited to launch a web-based tool that simplifies online research of our collections. Researchers can search across all 323 collections and over 53,000 individual item descriptions. The site provides access to more than 1,200 digital images and documents with more to come.
To visit the site go to https://archives.library.tmc.edu/. There are also handy links throughout our main website.
The platform is an archival management system called Access To Memory (AtoM) that is developed and maintained by Artefactual Systems. AtoM is a web-based, open source application for standards-based archival description and access.
We first learned about AtoM by working with archivists and archival graduate students in Japan on a project to make records from the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) available online. Since the McGovern Historical Center has a large collection of ABCC materials, adopting AtoM for the entire TMC-related collection seemed like a natural evolution. The process of testing and implementing AtoM took more than five years.
“Our decision to use AtoM developed through our international collaborations over the last few years,” said Philip Montgomery, Head of the McGovern Historical Center. “AtoM is based on international standards and facilitates access to materials in several languages. It’s easy to use for everyone — researchers as well as archives staff.”
Check out the images below and start exploring for yourself at https://archives.library.tmc.edu/.