When you’re looking for a book at the library, do you browse the shelves or head straight to the catalog? If you prefer to browse, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of discovering that the item you want is checked out or stored elsewhere. That’s where a catalog comes in handy—helping you locate what you need, even if it’s not right in front of you.

The same concept applies to museums.

Visitors to a museum can browse the displays, but many more items are stored behind the scenes in archives and storage areas. To manage and keep track of these collections, museums rely on specialized software. Thanks to the foresight of its board of directors, the Nemaha County Historical Society has long used a program called PastPerfect to catalog and manage its extensive holdings.

Until recently, however, access to that software was limited to a single location—the Harry C.M. Burger Annex. That changed in a big way thanks to a generous grant from Rainbow Communications.

The grant funded much-needed workstation upgrades and made it possible to convert PastPerfect to a cloud-based platform. Now, museum volunteers can access the software not only from the annex, but also from the Military Museum and other buildings across the historical society’s campus.

Even better, the public can now browse or search the collection online. As new items are added, the cloud-based system updates the public access site in real time—allowing researchers, history buffs, and curious community members to explore the collection from the comfort of their homes. (https://nemahahistory.catalogaccess.com/home)

With more than 12,000 items in the society’s care, this upgrade significantly improves the way the museum manages, shares, and preserves local history.

The Nemaha County Historical Society extends its sincere thanks to Rainbow Communications for making this vital improvement possible.