CollectionSpace Program History

With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, CollectionSpace was developed by a network of North American and European partner organizations led by Museum of the Moving Image (MMI) in New York, which originated the project, and the University of California, Berkeley. The Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Art Denmark) in Copenhagen and Walker Art Center in Minneapolis have been involved in CollectionSpace planning, design, development, and governance since 2008. In addition to MMI and UC Berkeley, the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET) at the University of Cambridge and the Fluid Project at OCAD University in Toronto developed the application’s underlying software architecture. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, through a National Leadership grant, made possible the development and testing of software configurations that serve specific collection types, including fine arts and native digital media.

The key partners and contributors in planning, design, creation, testing, and development of CollectionSpace include:

Museum of the Moving Image
CollectionSpace was initiated by the Museum of the Moving Image in direct response to their collections management needs; a solution championed by one is now available for use by many. Through their leadership and vision, the CollectionSpace software continues to be developed by the community and is freely available via the ECL v2 license.

Museum of the Moving Image advances the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving and providing access to moving-image related artifacts, screening significant films and other moving-image works, presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences, and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers and the general public.

Information Services and Technology (IST) – University of California, Berkeley
UC Berkeley’s Information Services and Technology’s Data Services Department (IST-DS) is one of four major departments in the campus’s central IT organization, charged with providing campus-wide data, content, and collaborative technologies. These services include museum informatics, enterprise data warehouse, enterprise content management, semantic technologies, and other data-driven tools for scholarship.

The Fluid Project – OCAD University
Fluid works to improve usability, accessibility, internationalization, quality assurance, and security within cultural and academic software projects. The project combines both design and technology to create a living library of shareable user interface components that can be reused across software projects (open source and commercial).

Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET) – University of Cambridge
CARET is an “innovation unit” that creates Web tools to help researchers bring their discoveries to light. CARET also has a growing group of researchers involved in a wide variety of activities related to new technologies in higher education, ranging from needs analysis and evaluation to broader, externally funded research projects.

Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Art), Denmark
The Statens Museum for Kunst is Denmark’s preeminent museum of art. No other museum in the country offers a correspondingly rich and varied selection of works from art history – dating from the Renaissance to the most cutting-edge of contemporary art.

The Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences. Focusing on the visual, performing, and media arts of our time, the Walker takes a global, multidisciplinary, and diverse approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of art.