A project of the TRA-Present Pasts and the BCDSS: University Collections as Heritage
Open Museum for Open Science
The Open Museum is the joint digital house of the museums and collections of the University of Bonn. Under its roof, the teaching and research collections of the humanities, natural sciences and medicine become digitally accessible. It is open to researchers, students, teachers and members of the University of Bonn, citizens of Bonn and beyond, members of other universities, museums and educational and cultural institutions, and local and global stakeholders.
The project “Open Museum for Open Science”, funded by the TRA Present Pasts, is developing a joint digital house for the museums and collections of the University of Bonn. The scientific collections are research infrastructures and heritage of the university, which need to be strengthened as part of the excellence strategy. The project aims to make the university collections and museums accessible and usable for research and teaching in an online portal, creating transparency about their holdings, and thus enabling knowledge sharing, even beyond the University of Bonn
The Open Museum project lays the foundation for a sustainable future concept for the digitization of the University of Bonn’s collection holdings, their valorization as infrastructure and resources for research and teaching, and the online presentation of teaching and research project results in the form of digital exhibitions. The Open Museum project makes the university collections visible and accessible as heritage, thereby contributing significantly to the democratization of knowledge.
Project directors: Prof. Dr. Karoline Noack; Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch
Project team: Alma Hannig (Collections Coordinator of the University of Bonn), Elizabeth Stauß (project coordination)
Project partners: Matthias Lang (BCDH – Bonn Center for Digital Humanities), BCDSS – Bonn Center for Dependency & Slavery Studies, Cornelia Löhne (Botanical Gardens), Harald Wolter-von dem Knesebeck (Paul Clemen Museum)
Participating collections (to date): Egyptian Museum, BASA Museum (Bonn Collection of the Americas), Botanical Gardens with Körnicke Collection, Photo Collection of the Institute of Art History, Goldfuß Museum, University Art Collection, Mineralogical Museum, Prehistoric and Early History Study Collection; planned for 2025/2026: Astronomical Collection, Zoological Collection, University Museum
Open Museum
The Open Museum is the joint digital house of the museums and collections of the University of Bonn. Under its roof, the teaching and research collections of the humanities, natural sciences and medicine become digitally accessible. The portal provides visitors with a central entrance to the rooms of the Open Museum, where they can delve into the collections, visit digital exhibitions, and access other information and educational resources.
The foundation of the Open Museum is a database infrastructure that is being developed and built by the the project team in collaboration with the staff of the collections and museums involved. This internal area of the Open Museum infrastructure allows objects to be recorded and enriched with data, and digital exhibitions to be curated based on the recorded holdings. The system of interconnected collection databases enables artifacts, biofacts, and text, image, film, and audio materials in the Open Museum to be linked transdisciplinarily, making them accessible in relation to each other.
The launch of the Open Museum will be accompanied by the publication of the digital pilot exhibition “In Search of Traces”. Object stories from 25 collections, museums, archives and libraries at the University of Bonn invite visitors to learn about the history of the collections and the importance of provenance research in ensuring transparency and sensitive care of collection objects and their heritage.
Open Science
The Open Museum is a digital house for research, knowledge transfer and dialogue. It is open to researchers, students, teachers and members of the University of Bonn, citizens of Bonn and beyond, members of other universities, museums and educational and cultural institutions, and local and global stakeholders. It offers access to objects in the University of Bonn’s scientific collections and the associated research data. In this way, the Open Museum fosters transparency regarding the holdings of the collections and makes them available for research, teaching, and as a knowledge resource in the spirit of open science.
The creation of the Open Museum entails the digital expansion and perpetuation of the university collections as research infrastructures. This opens up new possibilities for interdisciplinary teaching and transdisciplinary research on objects across faculties, and for knowledge transfer into the society and the participation of citizens in knowledge production.
The design and development of freely available learning and teaching materials and of opportunities for participation and co-creation in the Open Museum will be intensified after the launch of the portal. As these interactive spaces are gradually implemented, the Open Museum will become a place for encounter, exchange and dialogue between different forms of knowledge. This may give rise to new research questions and collaborations, including with members of the societies from which the objects originate.
Data infrastructure: portal and databases
The portal is the entrance to the Open Museum and its digital infrastructure, consisting of a system of interconnected databases. Thus, the portal is the publicly accessible front-end interface between the individual databases of the participating collections and museums. Both the portal and its underlying infrastructure are being developed within the Open Museum project. The configuration of the individual databases is being carried out in collaboration with employees of the participating collections and museums to ensure they meet discipline- and collection-specific needs and requirements for recording data.
The data set structure developed in the Open Museum project aligns with the Minimum data set recommendation for museums and collections. This recommendation outlines the essential data fields required for the online recording and publication of object data, while taking current standards into account. Object data and metadata are therefore recorded based on the FAIR Principles for research data, which should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. This includes using general and subject-specific standardized data and thesauri in the data set structure to make the object data interoperable with other databases. Additionally, the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance are taken into account. These principals (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) supplement the FAIR principles by addressing the ethical aspects of publishing cultural heritage data, particularly that from colonial contexts.
During the project, object data that had already been digitally recorded by other means was migrated to the new Open Museum database system. In general, the object data is recorded by the collections’ staff, who have the necessary expertise. They also decide which records from their respective databases are made accessible in the shared portal. Both the portal and the databases are currently under development. The number of participating museums and collections, as well as the number of objects recorded and published, should continuously be expanded.
Collection coordinator and director of the University Museum
Alma Hannig
“The Open Museum is promoting the digitization necessary for Bonn’s university museums and collections. Digital structures allow us to make knowledge visible and accessible, secure it for the long term, and develop it further. In my opinion, the greatest advantage is linking data from the individual collections so that it can be used in more diverse ways for research and teaching. This encourages interdisciplinary projects and innovative teaching formats. In the Open Museum, students can learn practical scientific work with objects, collections, and databases, as well as participate in creating analog and digital exhibitions. Through these experiences, they develop valuable skills in their field of study as well as in digitization, exhibition work, and science communication.”
Curator of the Botanical Gardens
Dr. Cornelia Löhne
“Very often, we only think within the boundaries of our own discipline, but the Open Museum project transcends those boundaries. I have met colleagues from other museums and collections, and we can benefit from each other’s experiences and ideas. Two things in particular excite me: (1) the new digital platform will make our historical teaching collections of plant specimens and seeds visible for the first time, and (2) through discussions about the history of our collections and their connections to the colonial era, we recognized several links between our institutions. Building on this, we have already developed some ideas for joint research projects.”
Exhibition “In Search of Traces – Object histories”
“In Search of Traces in the Museums and Collections of the University of Bonn. Object histories” is the pilot exhibition of the Open Museum project. It will launch alongside the Open Museum portal. From October 2024 to May 2025, the exhibition was on display in its analog form at the Knowledge Lab Uni Bonn (KLUB) for the opening of P26, the house of knowledge and research of the University of Bonn. The exhibition provides insights into the stories of objects in the University of Bonn's museums and collections. Researchers set out to search for traces to determine the origin and acquisition history of the objects — that is, to investigate their provenance. Who collected or acquired the objects, when, and how? How and why did the objects come to the University of Bonn? The exhibition also addresses how museums should appropriately care for sensitive collection items.
With its thematic focus on provenance research, the exhibition responds to the demand for transparency and openness regarding collections. It presents research findings and emphasizes the significant potential of the collections for additional provenance research and, simultaneously, the necessity thereof. For the first time, 25 institutions including museums, collections, archives, and libraries from the University of Bonn came together for an exhibition that enhances the visibility of the diversity and historical interconnections of Bonn’s teaching and study collections.
Genesis of the exhibition
- 2021-2023: Workshops of the Open Museum project with members of the TRA Present Pasts and collections and museums employees. Identifying the topics for a joint exhibition: Provenance research and history of the collections
- Winter semester 2022/2023: Course on provenance research: “Object Stories — An Interdisciplinary Exhibition Project in the Bonn University Collections and Museums” by Alma Hannig, Naomi Rattunde, and Elizabeth Stauß
- 2023-2024: Conception and development of the analog exhibition by Alma Hannig, Naomi Rattunde, and Elizabeth Stauß; since April 2024, in collaboration with the design agency chezweitz
- October 2024: Opening of the exhibition in P26
- Until the end of May 2025: more than 10,000 visitors
- 2025: Development of the digital exhibition by the Open Museum project team
- End of 2025: Launch of the digital exhibition in the Open Museum
