Jennifer Brancato, digital archivist at East Texas Research Center, Stephen F. Austin State University, created a fascinating view of a set of funeral records which is now directly embedded in the collection landing page.
Jennifer used ViewShare, software provided by the Library of Congress to help digital archivists deliver collections to the public. “I first heard about Viewshare in early January from a Facebook post,” said Braccato in a recent interview. “Since I was working on ways to enhance our digital collections I followed the link. After browsing the site, I knew this was what we needed. I was particularly interested in the map and timeline views but happy to see a tool that provided so many options.”
The collection Jennifer has delivered is a data set based on the records of Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Directors, which has been in business from the 1890s. They ran their funeral business above the Cason Monk Hardware Store on Main St. in Nacogdoches, TX. In 1947 the company acquired and moved into Branch Patton’s house on Mound St. where it remained until 1986. At that time Cason Monk & Co. merged with Oakley Metcalf Funeral Home and relocated to its current location on North Street across from Sunset Cemetery.
More abot how a digital collection is prepared for online use, visit:
Map the collection:
http://viewshare.org/views/etrcdigital/location-of-burials/
Use the collection:
