QC puts museum collection online

A $90,000 grant will now allow the Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College to put its collection of more than 35,000 pieces online so that the public will be better able to view it.
The grant was awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Dr. Amy Winter, the director and curator of the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, said that putting the pieces online has numerous benefits, such as being better able to access records, making it more accessible to the public, using it for curriculums and preserving the collection.
“This grant is an educational boon for the museum, for Queens College and for the community,” Winter said. “It will assure the success and visibility of the Godwin-Ternbach Museum by increasing public awareness of its role as a steward of art and culture. The award will also afford fuller use of the collection for loan, and expand the public’s opportunity to view the only permanent assemblage of artistic, historical and archeological artifacts in the borough of Queens.”
The Godwin-Ternbach Museum’s extensive collection is comprised entirely of donations. Among the items in its collection are works by Rembrandt, Chagall and Warhol. It also has rare pre-Columbian artifacts.
“The Institute of Museum and Library Services is delighted to support the Godwin-Ternbach Museum’s plan to catalog, photograph, and make accessible its collection of more than 3,500 objects,” said IMLS Public Affairs Officer Jeannine Mjoseth. “The museum will be able to reach broader and more diverse local and regional communities with the updated web site, online access to its collection, and improved design of exhibits and programs resulting from its Museums for America grant.”
Winter said that the museum has already begun the data transfer process. Within the next three years, she said she plans to have a pilot program of 100 items online, with the entire collection up within the next five years.
For more information on the Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College, visit www.qc.cuny.edu/godwin_ternbach.