National Park Service museum collections now available through Google: View Alabama artifacts
February 11, 2016 | In the PressFrom Alabama.com (http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/department_of_interior_partner.html)
The U.S. Department of the Interior today announced a partnership with Google to make thousands of historically and culturally significant objects in the National Park Service's museum collection available online.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell made the announcement at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Tuskegee University.
View the Alabama collection by clicking here.
The partnership through the Google Cultural Institute uses technologies similar to Google's Street View – which provides 360-degree views on Google Maps of locations around the world -- to photograph and virtually map important artifacts, photos, records and works of art to share important material with global audiences and digitally preserve them for future generations.
"This marriage of technology and history means that anyone, anywhere can see artifacts and sites that, provide a taste of the rich and diverse story of America," Jewell said. "Our hope is that this partnership will not only illustrate and elevate our nation's history and culture, but inspire more people to visit the wonderfully diverse places that the National Park Service protects and preserves for current and future generations."
Visitors to the "Collections from Alabama National Parks" can view artifacts from such sites as the Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Russell Cave National Monument, Selma to Montgomery National Historic trail, Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site and Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site.
"The magic of technology is that it allows us to fold space and time to bring people together with places, experiences, artifacts, and each other in ways that before were impossible," said Malika Saada Saar, Google's Senior Counsel on Civil and Human Rights. "That's what the Google Cultural Institute does, and we are thrilled to work with the National Park Service to help preserve these beautiful American places, objects, and stories."
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site tells the story of the first African-American men trained to fly combat aircraft for the Army Air Corps during World War II. At least 1,000 aviators were trained, and more than 10,000 military and civilian African-American men and women served in a variety of support roles, opening a door for greater inclusion in the military. Jewell met with surviving Tuskegee Airmen to hear their stories of service in defense of our nation.
At Tuskegee, Jewell was joined by fourth graders from DC Wolfe Elementary School, Tuskegee Public School, and Notasulga Elementary School, who participated in a virtual reality flight simulation activity, and learned about the Tuskegee Airmen's contributions to the nation.
The students also received Every Kid in a Park passes that provide fourth graders nationwide free entry for them and their families to more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters nationwide for an entire year. The Every Kid in a Park initiative is part of an overall effort in the Obama Administration to connect young people to the outdoors.
