Subject: FW: June/July 2008 PastPerfect Newsletter Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:39:56 -0500 Message-ID: <B46BC0C8F6373F43B0A84089442FE921014D9887@MEWMAD1P0129.enterprise.wistate.us> From: "Seymour, Janet I - WHS" <Janet.Seymour@wisconsinhistory.org>
List Serve Members
Here is the most recent news from Past Perfect Museum software - notice
that there will be a training in Eau Claire, October 7-9.
Janet Seymour
Field Services Representative - Northern Region
Wisconsin Historical Society
Review past messages at: http://listserve.uwec.edu/localhistory
<http://listserve.uwec.edu/localhistory> .
________________________________
From: news@museumsoftware.com [mailto:news@museumsoftware.com]
Sent: Sun 6/22/2008 1:42 AM
To: Seymour, Janet I - WHS
Subject: June/July 2008 PastPerfect Newsletter
<http://www.museumsoftware.com/index.shtml>
PastPerfect Newsletter: June/July 2008
1. Upcoming Training Opportunities for PastPerfect 4.0
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#1>
2. PastPerfect Featured User: Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#2>
3. New Online Training Course: Cataloging your Collection With
PastPerfect 4.0
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#3>
4. PastPerfect Featured Product: Multi-Media Upgrade!
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#4>
5. Tech Tip: How to Create a Fund
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#5>
6. Free! Share your Institution with the World at www.MuseumSoftware.com
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#6>
7. Contact Information
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#7>
________________________________
1. Upcoming Training Opportunities for PastPerfect 4.0
Training for 2008 is under way! Currently scheduled training locations
and dates are listed below.
Waco, TX - June 24-26
Second Collections class now available on Monday, June 23!
Hosted by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame & Museum
*please note: June 24, 25 and 26 classes are Sold Out.*
Chestnut Hill, MA - July 15-17
Second Collections class now available on Monday, July, 14!
Hosted by the Longyear Museum
*please note: July 15, 16, and 17 classes are Sold Out.*
***NEW*** Online Training - July 29-31
Special Introductory pricing $59 per person.
Cataloging your Collection with PastPerfect 4.0
Live Web-based Training Class (more information below)
<https://mail.wisconsin.gov/Exchange/Janet.Seymour/Drafts/FW:%20June_xF8F
F_July%202008%20PastPerfect%20Newsletter.EML/1_text.htm#3>
City of Industry, CA - August 5-7
Hosted by the Workman & Temple Family Homestead Museum
Exton, PA - August 19-21
Hosted by PastPerfect Software, Inc.
Kennesaw, GA - September 23-25
Hosted by the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History
Eau Claire, WI - October 7-9
Hosted jointly by the Minnesota Historical Society and the Wisconsin
Historical Society
For more information about scheduled training classes please visit our
website at http://www.museumsoftware.com/training.htm or contact our
Training Coordinator, Jennessa Reed, by e-mail at
training@museumsoftware.com or by phone at 800-562-6080.
________________________________
2. PastPerfect Featured User: Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY
Special thanks to Alisha Ferrin, Assistant Registrar and Alanna
Schindewolf, Communications Assistant, for contributing this month's
article!
Since opening its doors to New York City and the world in October 2004,
the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) has quickly come to be recognized by
newcomers and connoisseurs alike as the premier museum of Himalayan art
in the Western world. The museum's collection of over 3,000 works of art
includes Himalayan paintings, sculpture, textiles, ritual objects, and
prints, spanning a period from the 2nd century to the 20th century.
RMA's growing collection is drawn from the cultures that touch upon the
1,800 mile arc of mountains that extends from Afghanistan in the
northwest to Myanmar (Burma) in the southeast and includes Tibet, Nepal,
Mongolia, and Bhutan.
RMA uses PastPerfect to track the approximately ten in-house exhibitions
each year, most of which draw upon the museum's permanent collection and
highlight a wide variety of themes, ranging from female buddhas to
divine madness to the origins of ancient Himalayan religions. In
addition to serving as a venue for critically acclaimed traveling
exhibitions such as I See No Stranger: Early Sikh Art and Devotion and
The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, RMA also facilitates
the travel and display of about five home-curated exhibitions per year.
BIG! Himalayan Art is currently on view at the Crow Collection of Asian
Art, bringing a piece of RMA (and the Himalayas) to Dallas.
RMA began using PastPerfect in 2003, prior to the museum's official
opening. Since then, PastPerfect has served a critical role in helping
the Collections Management Department maintain up-to-date, detailed
information on incoming and outgoing loans, objects received for
possible acquisition and the museum's permanent collection. Other museum
departments also use PastPerfect to access all details pertaining to an
object or exhibition. PastPerfect makes this easy because the
information is stored in one central location.
Since upgrading to Version 4 earlier this year, the museum has also been
utilizing PastPerfect's Multi-Media features. Though the museum has
always included images in each of the object records, the upgrade has
allowed us to use the multi-media link to attach exhibition didactics,
creating a stream-lined database system that serves all levels of users.
We look forward to continuing to maximize PastPerfect as a vital
resource as RMA's collection and international presence grows. For more
information on RMA, please visit our website www.rmanyc.org
<http://www.rmanyc.org/> .
________________________________
3. New Online Training Course: Cataloging your Collection With
PastPerfect 4.0
PastPerfect Software is proud to introduce our new web-based training
classes. The classes are taught real-time and are broadcast live to your
computer. Using the power of the internet and a telephone based
conference call, we walk through the processes of using PastPerfect to
catalog your collection. All training materials are provided online. All
you need is a phone, the ability to call a long distance number and
internet access at or above DSL speed. For more information, check out
our training site at http://www.museumsoftware.com/training.htm
________________________________
4. PastPerfect Featured Product: Multi-Media Upgrade!
Maintaining consistent and accurate data about your organization's
collections and constituents is crucial to every institution's mission.
The PastPerfect Basic Program has the tools you need for good data
entry, as well as research and reports to help you use your
organization's important assets -- collections and contacts.
So, how can you make your PastPerfect Software even better?
The Multi-Media Upgrade gives you the power to attach multiple digital
image attachments and multi-media file links to records. Our easy-to-use
Multi-Media Wizard helps you bring your data to life. Now, while at your
PastPerfect computer, you can look at artifacts, view video, listen to
audio files, read transcripts, and connect to informative websites.
Imagine how displaying a video-clip of a mechanical toy in motion or
playing an audio file of an oral history recording could enhance the
understanding of your collections. Links to MS-Word documents, PDFs,
Excel spreadsheets, and relevant websites are at your fingertips. You
can establish a link to any file your computer is capable of running.
Multi-Media enables PastPerfect users to capture up to 999 digital
images for each Object, Photo, Archives, and Library catalog record. You
can also add images to document exhibits and display photographs of
artifacts' sites. You can even put a face with a name. Multi-Media
enables you to attach an image to People Biography and Contacts records.
Images are easily and directly acquired from TWAIN compliant scanners,
digital cameras and existing picture files. PastPerfect is compatible
with standard digital formats, including JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG and PCX
files. Additional formats and large images may be linked as multi-media
files. As images are attached, PastPerfect allows you to record data
about each file to help you track how and when they were acquired. You
can then edit images, save them, and even add your own custom, permanent
text watermark.
Images and multi-media files can be stored on your hard drive or network
file server. Using compressed formats such as JPEG for images, you can
store as many as 200,000 images on a twenty gigabyte hard drive. Images
and multi-media files are held separately from data, so your data does
not grow exponentially.
For in-depth information about Multi-Media, you can download chapter 19
of the PastPerfect User's Guide from our download page
<http://www.museumsoftware.com/downloads.htm> or contact us at
sales@museumsoftware.com.
________________________________
5. Tech Tip: How to Create a Fund and Donation Thank You Letter
Creating a fund is a useful tool for organizing, tracking and reporting
on monetary donations. Once a fund has been created, it will be
available in the fund pull down menu when entering a pledge or donation
receipt. You can also compose a letter to send as a Thank You for the
donation. To create a fund within PastPerfect, from the main menu please
select Setup, then Contacts, and then choose the tab "Donation Funds &
Pledges". (If this is the first fund being entered into the PastPerfect
program, you may wish to Setup a Default Donation Fund Letter first. The
Default Donation Fund Letter gives you the opportunity to set margins,
setup standard fields, and basic text for all new funds' thank you
letters.)
1. To add a new fund, please press the "Add" button, type the name of
your fund and then press "OK".
2. To create a code for the fund, click in the code field to the right
of the fund, and then type up to ten characters. Fund codes are optional
and can be used to group multiple funds for accounting purposes.
3. When finished entering the code, please move out of the field by
clicking once on the text of your new fund. This will highlight the
fund.
4. Next, to add a Thank You letter for this fund, please select "Compose
Donation Fund Letter". (If you have created a default donation fund
letter, prior to the addition of this fund, the default letter will be
the foundation of this new letter.)
5. The title of the fund will appear at the top of the PastPerfect
WordRite screen.
6. You may edit the text of this letter, if needed.
7. If you would like to add a field, please place your cursor where you
would like the field to appear.
8. Select the down arrow to the right of the Insert Field box and use
the scroll bar to view the list.
9. Click on the desired field.
10. Press the Insert Field button. (The field name will appear in angle
brackets. Any punctuation should be added before or after the angle
brackets, not within them.)
11. Once you have created your letter please press Save.
12. When it indicates that your letter was saved, please press OK.
13. Select Exit to close the WordRite screen.
14. Select Exit once more to return to the main menu of PastPerfect
If you have any questions regarding how to setup a fund in PastPerfect,
please contact our support office at 1-800-562-6080, toll free or email
us at support@museumsoftware.com
________________________________
6. Free! Share your Institution with the World at www.MuseumSoftware.com
Thanks to you, the demand for PastPerfect Software continues to grow. As
we approach 6500 customers, our Client List grows too. This helpful
resource from our website gives you the opportunity to take a look at
other PastPerfect users from around the world. It is a way to network
with PastPerfect customers with similar collections or museums in your
area.
To help you learn more about users, we provide links to participating
clients' websites. By providing a link to your organization's website,
Virtual Exhibit, and/or PastPerfect-Online site, we can help promote
your institution to the nearly half million visitors to our website.
To add your organization's website to the Client List, please send your
organization name, website address, Virtual Exhibit home page, and/or
PastPerfect-Online site in an e-mail to PastPerfect-Online site in an e-mail to clientlist@museumsoftware.com.
To see who else is using PastPerfect, please visit the Client List & Map
under the Resources section of our website
http://www.museumsoftware.com/client_list.htm.
________________________________
7. Contact Information
Address: 300 North Pottstown Pike, Suite 200 Exton, PA 19341
Website: www.museumsoftware.com <http://www.museumsoftware.com/>
Sales & Product Info: 800-562-6080 or sales@museumsoftware.com
Support: 800-562-6080 or support@museumsoftware.com
Training: 800-562-6080 or training@museumsoftware.com
Data Conversions: 800-562-6080 or conversions@museumsoftware.com