UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When the new Palmer Museum of Art opened to the public on June 1, it opened another “museum” online, accessible to any art lover anywhere in the world: its collection of nearly 11,000 art objects. The Palmer’s expansive collection is now freely explorable via a new database on its website so that everybody — including staff, students, volunteers, the public, or those who cannot come to the museum in person — can search or research nearly every work of art in its holdings.

“Anyone can access the Palmer’s extensive collection from the ease of their smart phone or favorite device from anywhere in the world,” said Erin M. Coe, director of the Palmer Museum of Art. “By making the collection fully available online, we have dramatically advanced our strategic goal for greater accessibility, allowing us to reach beyond our walls to a broad, diverse, and now global audience.” 

The Palmer’s overhaul of its collections management system, including the new online database, started in 2019 and took years to develop and implement. Visitors to the Palmer website’s Collections page can now use the search bar at the top to look for artworks, artists, or types of art in its collection; peruse works from the museum’s 10 primary collecting areas; or explore groups of objects organized by academic subjects or themes. Love still life? Search the term and find examples in the museum’s collection. Interested in artworks that include animals? Examine the subject guide of animal-related art. Need a list of contemporary women artists for a class project? It’s only a click away. Users can also create their own lists of favorite artworks for study, research or pleasure.

“There are multiple ways to explore the Palmer’s collection on the new eMuseum site,” said Shannon Hahn, the museum’s assistant registrar who was integral to launching the project. “In addition to using the search bar, online visitors can learn more about the museum’s collection by either clicking through 10 main collecting areas or various thematic groupings of objects. The thematic groups include works that relate to a wide variety of topics, from climate change to identity to STEM, and much more.” 

In addition to accessibility by the public, the online collection database will also broaden the research and teaching mission of the Palmer Museum and Penn State. Students, art historians and researchers will more easily and quickly be able to discover and study specific objects or artists, advancing art historical knowledge and appreciation while promoting research inquiries into the museum’s holdings. Making collection information available digitally and online also preserves information about objects in case of emergency events that might affect physical files and archival records. 

The new database uses eMuseum, a digital publishing software from Gallery Systems that showcases the museum collections of more than 260 regional, national and internationally renowned museums, galleries, archives and collections. The Palmer’s expanding collection is now searchable like that of many prominent institutions, including the Getty Museum Frick Collection; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; as well as other university museums, including the University of Florida’s Harn Museum of Art, Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and Harvard University’s Peabody Essex Museum, and Big Ten University peers such as the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University and the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.

Though the Palmer’s collection is now searchable online, upkeep and documentation of works of art is an ongoing effort as the collection continues to grow. The museum’s registration staff will make improvements throughout the coming months and years by adding more images, updating information and appending documentation for objects in the database, making it ever more useful and explorable. 

About the Palmer Museum of Art

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is the largest art museum collection between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and the most significant academic art museum in the state of Pennsylvania. A key element of Penn State’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and public service, the museum is a vital and accessible cultural resource for Penn State’s students, faculty and scholars, as well as for all visitors to and from the entire central Pennsylvania region. Through its world-class objects, programs and outreach, the free museum is a welcoming, inclusive and vibrant forum for authentic arts experiences and cultivates meaningful dialogue about today’s most potent ideas and pressing concerns. 
 
An expansive 21st-century teaching museum, the Palmer is a beacon for advancing the arts and humanities on Penn State’s University Park campus and throughout its diverse communities. The museum is dedicated to catalyzing groundbreaking research, scholarship and publications and providing impactful, object-based learning for Penn State and K-12 students. The Palmer's rewarding and thought-provoking exhibitions and programs promote visitor participation, belonging and discovery.