What is an Online Museum

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During my time running this site Ive encountered skeptics and naysayers who say things like "a Wiki site is not a museum". I wanted to take a few minutes and explore the concept of what, exactly, a museum is and what it is that we do here at the Invader Historical Foundation.

Lets begin with what a Museum is. Merriam-Webster defines Museum as: "an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value."

Procurement - IHF does procure physical items in its collection. We have a growing collection of artifacts in our care: many books, photos, actual A-26 instrument gauges, crew equipment, personal effects, paintings, patches, medals, etc.

Care - IHF always ensures that these items are well preserved and cared for, always treated with the utmost respect. Whether they are items that have been donated or items that we have purchased, they are stored in sealed containers in climate-controlled environments to ensure protection and longevity. Posters, patches, and photographs on display have a UV coating over the frame to prevent sun damage and direct light is limited.

Study - the IHF staff has spent years studying everything Invader related and we are working on putting all of our notes, findings and information onto the website. This is not just transcribing information from a source and uploading it, its actual Bonafide research. Our museum curator holds a master's degree and serves as a peer reviewer for a dozen scientific journals, has published scientific research papers, has served on research panels, and is a Community Research Fellow at ASU's SIRC. He is well versed in archival research. The work here at IHF involves the careful cross-reference of multiple sources including official Air Force documents, inventory records, accident reports, FAA records, military personnel records, personal interviews with survivors, and family history records to try to create as complete a history as possible. No other website, wiki, or online website that we are aware of does anything approaching this level of cross-reference and research.

And Display - Sure, you can't physically examine the IHF photos with your hands, but you can see them. You can't physically touch the patches and the paintings, but you can see them. They are scanned in at high resolution and displayed on the website. You can't physically handle the other artifacts, but you can see them. High resolution photos are displayed are on the website. But you wouldn't be able to touch these things in a physical building either as they'd be locked behind a glass case, which is how they are kept them at the IHF. So, if you can only look at them in a building, and you can look at them on my website, what's the difference? Is there a difference?

Note that nothing in the definition of a museum dictates that it must be a physical building where the public comes. Indeed, many physical museums often have parts of their collections locked away, hidden from public view.

We procure artifacts and information about the Invader wherever we can find them, sometimes at great personal expense, for the sole purpose of studying it, cataloging it, and making it available for eventual public consumption.

Furthermore, the IHF is part of a larger research organization - The Aviation History Research Network. We also adhere to the Statement of Standards of Professional Conduct from the American Historical Association (https://www.historians.org/jobs-and-professional-development/statements-standards-and-guidelines-of-the-discipline/statement-on-standards-of-professional-conduct).

Is this website finished? Not even close. Its primarily a staff of one working on this site and there are, at this moment, another 16,173 photos to clean and upload, not mention 2,500+ IARC cards to enhance and upload, plus literally thousands of pages of records from the US Air Force Historical Research Agency to transcribe and upload - over 20GB of data in total. This process takes time, but work continues on the project as fast as possible.

There's nothing that says a museum has to be a physical brick and mortar building, especially not in today's day and age. In fact, the scientific literature has many articles discussing both virtual museums and online museums.

We could just keep all of these artifacts and information to ourselves, but we won't. Everything we acquire, whether through donation or personal purchase, is, or will be, made available to everyone for free. Sharing and preserving the legacy of this airplane and their crews is the entire point of this endeavor. Our curator says: "Safeguarding this information, curating it, preserving it is my life's work, and its work that I do for free at my own expense simply because I feel that it's worthy of preservation."