The Wittliff Collections unveiled eleven touchscreens that provide interactive content and video, as part of its recent renovations and gallery expansion. The addition has greatly enhanced visitor experiences and expanded access to digitized collections. The Wittliff staff worked with Pass it Down, a company that created a cloud-based platform that provides templates for creating interactive exhibits.
Touchscreen to activate: project background
Dr. David L. Coleman, director of The Wittliff Collections, coordinated the project while Mark Willenborg, marketing and promotions coordinator for The Wittliff, researched Pass it Down. Mark initiated the request for a software review since Pass it Down was new to Texas State University. The software needed to meet Texas State’s information security standards. As soon as it was reviewed and approved, the client services team in the Albert B. Alkek Library, Brad Ballard and Patrick Ryan, set up the computers.
The Wittliff’s exhibition team took virtual training with Chris Cummings, Pass it Down’s president and CEO. The team learned how to pull content together for each exhibit. They could add multiple file types to the kiosks, including audio, text, photograph, PDF, and video.
Lonesome Dove Gallery
There are five touchscreens in this gallery. Three of them feature video content from “The Making of Lonesome Dove” documentary and panel discussions from the 2016 Lonesome Dove gala and cast reunion. Steve Davis, the curator of the Southwestern Writers Collection, was the content creator for the two interactive kiosks while David Coleman planned and implemented the video content. Visitors and die-hard fans of the miniseries can explore the Lonesome Dove archives and look at over forty set designs on one of the kiosks. They can also scroll through forty-eight wardrobe sketches and over 100 continuity photos, which provide a unique look into the miniseries’ production.
Texas Music Gallery
The inaugural exhibit for the Texas Music Collection (TMC), features the Ray Benson archives and the 50th anniversary of Asleep at the Wheel. This gallery is full of multimedia content with video walls and sound domes along with three touchscreens. Hector Saldaña, the curator of TMC, created one of the displays using the timeline template from Pass it Down. Visitors can choose a year, between 1951 and 2015, and dig deep into Ray Benson’s career by looking through digitized photographs and memorabilia.
Treasures of the Wittliff Gallery
The new gallery features collection material from all three pillars of The Wittliff. The rarest book housed at The Wittliff is the 1555 edition of “La relación” by Spanish conquistador Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. The entire book had been previously digitized and translated for an online exhibit and website, including a discussion of the book with Dr. Frank de la Teja. While the original text is too fragile to keep on permanent display, The Wittliff features digital content on the kiosk. Mark Willenborg used Pass it Down’s “David” template that allows content to be presented into topics or chapters.
Edward Curtis: Treasures of the North American Indian Gallery
David Coleman curated this new gallery and wrote and designed the interactive content highlighting the life and photographs of Edward Curtis. Coleman worked with the staff in University Libraries’ digital and web services. He had photogravures and video content digitized. Visitors can learn how Curtis began the project and even view a rare clip from Curtis’ 1914 film, “In the Land of the War Canoes: Kwakiutl Indian Life on the Northwest Coast” on the kiosk.
COVID-19 protocol and the future
The Wittliff follows COVID-19 museum protocol and offers dispensable stylus tools for visitors to use while exploring digital content. Staff clean the screens daily.
Pass It Down continues to upgrade their software, allowing The Wittliff to provide new features in the future possibly. Currently, all kiosk content is only available onsite due to copyright restrictions. Pass It Down offers the ability to push the content online, and The Wittliff is presently reviewing the option to make certain content available on the web.
