Historic Lewes Website Development & Historical Record Management

But this wasn’t a quick, easy turnaround; this project required a huge time investment. Since 1962, the Society has collected objects, archives, photographic images and library materials that document life in Lewes and on the Lower Delaware Bay. From works of art, furnishings, papers and photographs, to smallwooden crafts, books and everything in between. Their oldest piece dates from c. 1580, but memories continue to be catalogued from just the other day.

Inclind’s starting point was the Society’s existing site that was a bit clunky, cumbersome and, well, dated. It was in need of a good dusting for an easier historical collection search experience.

We integrated Drupal 8 and the PastPerfect software, the leader in collection and contact management software that’s used by more than 10,000 museums worldwide. The software sorts search categories into: photos, archives, graves, artifacts, buildings and library; tens of thousands of items could then be further filtered by year. Once the item is selected, Google Maps locates where the item once took place or once existed in the area today. This map function is mobile-friendly, now allowing visitors to take their own self-guided walking tour, door to door to quaint buildings in town or cemeteries in the historic district, for instance.

In addition to the massive collection, we also helped to add funds to the Society’s E-Commerce, selling museum tickets, event tickets, posters and more fundraising items online; and we improved the overall organization of the calendar feature on historiclewes.org for a more streamlined search and convenient connection or notification onto your personal calendar.