DEERFIELD — A $193,572 grant from the national Institute of Museum and Library Services will allow the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) to rebuild a 20-year-old website, further facilitating public education about New England’s history.
The website, ”American Centuries: View from New England,” features PVMA’s collection of historical New England artifacts. With a total project budget of $387,349, the museum will need to raise the remaining funds.
PVMA Executive Director Tim Neumann said the grant — which must be spent by Aug. 31, 2024 — will be used to recreate the website in a more modern and accessible format to better convey historical information to both students and the general public.
“The vision is to make it more engaging for present-day audiences,” Neumann said. “We’re very light on animation and video, for example, because it was very, very expensive to do in the past.”
PVMA is one of seven Massachusetts museums — and the only one west of Worcester — to receive this Museums for America Grant. A total of 126 museums across the country were awarded this grant, according to the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ website. The grant’s description page says it “supports museums of all sizes and disciplines to undertake projects that strengthen their ability to serve their public.”
Neumann said it is a “very competitive” grant program and he is glad PVMA is able to represent the region’s history.
“You have to make the case your museum is doing something of national interest,” Neumann said. “Our resources are based in the community and we appreciate that support. … It speaks highly of Franklin County’s contributions as a rural county.”
Neumann said the website began “sliding toward oblivion” in the last four years and the software is so old it creates security issues that cause it to be automatically blocked by school districts.
“It started to be a priority because it was a problem,” Neumann said. “After a couple years of trying to upgrade it — it’s still functioning and teachers are using it — some places are blocking it.”
Greenfield Community College used to host the website out of generosity, but could no longer do so because it did not meet security protocols. The new website will be hosted on a server at the museum.
Given the software’s age, he said there is nowhere to go for support if they come across an issue in the website and it is difficult to make changes because it is “hand-built.”
“It was all cutting edge in its day, but as time went along, things changed,” Neumann said. “Unlike present-day programming, where with a flip of a switch you can make lots and lots of changes.”
These changes will address PVMA’s needs of facilitating public education about New England’s history and “emphasizing the need to be inclusive,” such as changing current references of “African American” to “Black.” The current site offers 2,000 items from the museum’s collection and more will be added when it is relaunched.
“We want to be current in terms of our language and our content,” Neumann said. “The vision is to tap the new research. In African American history there were not many discussions about Afro-Indians. … We want to bring that new perspective and story to our interpretation of African Americans in Franklin County.”
He added it is also a chance for PVMA to give expanded attention to the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in 2026.
Even though the website still functions, Neumann said its age is one of the reasons why its usage numbers are decreasing, which is a driving force in its reconstruction.
“Even in its decrepit state, we get 300,000 unique visitors a year,” Neumann said. “It used to be a half a million.”
Neumann said rebuilding the website is a three-step process that begins with creating a list of what features should be implemented, followed by building elements of the site and testing them, and then finally implementing them. He said he is hopeful PVMA can launch the new website in time for students’ return to school in 2024.