Increased Image Sharing Can Increase Community Support

Public display of the image treasures held by a community historical or genealogical society is an easy way to increase the level of community support for a society's activities. If photos, documents, and other images are only viewable in a society's museum or archives, it is likely that many in the broader community have only a vague notion about the society's preservation activities.

With technology available today, it is relatively easy and inexpensive to share collection images with a broader community by placing some images online or by putting some image prints on display around town.

If a society has a website, it is simple to add an image gallery. If a society does not have a website, free and easy share sites can be built quickly to gain a web presence, and these can be expanded over time. A society can then create a full blown website when appropriate.

A few scans of images owned by the society or in the public domain is all that is needed to be able to share images with the broader community.

Once digital images are available, it is also an easy and logical step to make prints and image gift items available as a fundraising activity to support ongoing projects.

Greater display of historically interesting community images is likely to increase awareness of society activities, bolster enthusiasm about a community's rich history, and this can ultimately lead to expanded volunteer and financial support.

For more thoughts and suggestions, visit the "Sharing" section and "Projects for Local Historical Societies" at LocalArchiver.com.