By Joyce Amaro, Alhambra Historical Society
On the evening of June 4, the Alhambra Historical Society met at the beautiful Iona Work Spaces (1500 West Alhambra Road, Alhambra, CA 91801) for its annual meeting. As approximately 40 members enjoyed light hors d’oeuvres and drinks, Alhambra Historical Society President Chris Olson presented the evening’s program, which included the 2023-24 annual report, the recognition of 13 volunteers, and the installation of the 2024-25 board of directors by Alhambra Vice Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez. Pasadena City College students Dana Contreras and Dylan Ryll capped off the evening with presentations on their work associated with the museum inventory and digitization project.
Contreras and Ryll provided an overview of the work they have completed since February, which included the creation of an online accession sheet, the digitization and optical character recognition (or OCR) of 5% of the museum’s books, research into Alhambra families, and the photographing and uploading of 10% of the museum’s items into CatalogIt, a platform used by many museums to digitize assets and make them accessible online.
“The inventory and digitization of the Alhambra Historical Society Museum’s assets is one of the goals identified in the society’s recently developed strategic plan,” stated Michael McCollum, Vice President of the Alhambra Historical Society and owner of Iona Work Spaces. “We recognize that this is a project that may take some time to complete, but we are thrilled to have launched it with the assistance of these students. We look forward to continuing our partnership with PCC moving forward,” McCollum continued.
If you’d like to learn more about the ongoing digitization and inventory project of the Alhambra Historical Society Museum, please send an email to [email protected] or visit the museum during its hours of operation (1:00 – 4:00 p.m. on the first and third Saturday of each month). You may also visit the Alhambra Historical Society at alhambrahistoricalsociety.org or follow @alhambrahistory on Instagram.
