Digital Collections

The Stewart-Swift Research Center is moving into the digital realm by steadily digitizing its diverse collections. A substantial portion of Center’s photographic collections is currently accessible online courtesy of several Vermont host institutions.

How to Find

Approximately 7,500 historic photographs of the Center’s over 10,000 holdings, may be searched through the collaborative Landscape Change Program. Hosted through the University of Vermont, the images provide an interdisciplinary look at how the Vermont landscape has changed over time. The Center’s digital images include views of the Vermont landscape from the 1860s to the 1930s; bird’s-eye views of Central Vermont; historic architecture; rural schools; long vanished farms; marble quarries; floods, fires and other disasters; notable and ordinary citizens; and more.

Over two hundred of the Center’s historically unique architectural and urban landscape photographs may be examined courtesy of Middlebury College. Many of these images were digitized for the Museum’s popular publication, A Walking History of Middlebury (Glenn M. Andres, multiple editions). A website version of this publication is also available here and the photographs relating to this publication can be viewed here.

Working toward more digitization

The Stewart-Swift Research Center was awarded a National Endowment for Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions in 2019. The grant enabled the hiring of NEDCC consultants and a thorough assessment of the Center's current digital collections. The project resulted in the development of a state-of-the-art preservation plan for future digital projects and the creation of several crucial documents, including the Center’s Mission and Vision Statement, Designated Community Statement, and Digital Collection Policy.  The realization of the NEH PAG grant objectives is the initial necessary step toward building a sound technological infrastructure to provide broad online access to the Center’s rich archival collections. The NEH PAG grant positions the Center to not only better preserve its unique and fragile historical holdings, but also to support the Museum’s mission to share and disseminate its collections with the public at large. See NEH PAG grant press release here.

Digital Preservation Designated Community Statement

The Stewart-Swift Research Center serves a broad and diverse community. In order to optimize the access and use of the Center’s resources and services and assure that we remain proficient in our mission to serve the present and future needs of our constituents, we will maintain a designated community statement. The Center’s digital preservation efforts will ensure the long-term access of materials that have historical and intellectual significance and enduring value to our community. We strive to broaden and facilitate access to our primary resources in order to contribute to the digital global repository of knowledge. All digital collection decisions, including accessions, storage, access, and preservation, will be made to serve the following communities:

Stewart-Swift Research Center Primary Users Community includes:

• Local Community and Residents (historians, architects, curators, environmentalists, filmmakers, lawyers, landscapers, house owners, middle and high school students)

• Genealogists

• Middlebury College Faculty and Students

• Local School Teachers

Stewart-Swift Research Center Secondary Community

• Greater Vermont and National Scholars and Researchers

• Global Public

• Publishers and Journalists