Why We Preserve: Celebrating the Digital Legacy of Visiting Artists at Museum of Glass

By Marie Williams Chant, Digital Archivist

Throughout October, Museum of Glass celebrated American Archives Month by sharing some hidden gems from our Visiting Artist Residency Digital Archive on our social media platforms. As the calendar rolls into November, we are continuing to honor our unique digital collections on World Digital Preservation Day. As a museum that opened in the twenty-first century, we have an extensive digital legacy that celebrates glass art and documents the careers of the many esteemed artists that come to work in our state-of-the-art Hot Shop.

The importance of preserving this collection has become abundantly clear as we have started our work in earnest. Digital photos and videos document processes and practices of our Visiting Artists and are key to understanding the evolution of contemporary glass art. As we inventory, assess, and catalog our expansive holdings sadly, we’ve found some footage that is already lost due to digital decay. These materials, some as young as eight years old, have become completely unreadable due to file corruption and changes in technology. This inevitable fact makes our digital preservation work even more critical.

To complement our internal preservation work, we recently launched a new project to collect web-based resources developed by glass artists, galleries, and other partners. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center report, over 38% of websites that existed in 2013 are no longer accessible just a decade later. The fleeting nature of web content means that without action, we will lose essential documentation developed by glass artists. Through our partnership with the Internet Archive’s Collaborative ART Archive, we are ensuring that websites developed by artists working in glass are saved in perpetuity.

We preserve this collection because cultural heritage is essential. When we lose digital documentation, we lose opportunities to connect and keep knowledge alive. Our visiting artists are at the heart of our institution, and maintaining this collection is key to our mission to enrich lives through glass and glassmaking.