Introduction

After 21 months of transcribing and commenting, our Documentation Detectives Zooniverse page will receive its final upload on December 31st 2025. This marks a landmark step in our 10-year Dynamic Collections project, bringing us tangibly closer to building the public collections database our museum has dreamt of for years. 

From all of us at Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT), we would like to express our heart-felt thanks to all the Documentation Detectives who have volunteered with us so far. You have made a terrific impact through your accurate transcriptions as well as sharing your interests, flagging issues, and advising fellow detectives on our Talk boards. As we close the first chapter of our project, today we would like to give a look into what you have achieved with us, how Documentation Detectives came to be, and where we will be going next.

A brief history of the project

Documentation Detectives started life as part of a wider initiative here at Birmingham Museums Trust known as Dynamic Collections. Launched in 2022, this 10-year programme aims to transform the accessibility of Birmingham Museums’ collections through a range of innovative methods which have not been used extensively here before. In addition to Zooniverse, other branches include inviting community groups to audit collections at the Museum Collections Centre and the Voices of the City oral history project.

When we started Documentation Detectives, our aims were pretty simple:

1. Get our paper accession records digitised through scans and transcriptions.
2. Use those transcriptions to update our collections database, Ke EMu.
3. Do this in a way that allows as many people as possible to participate.

We chose to focus on accession registers because they recorded core information across all the different collections held by Birmingham Museums Trust. While documents such as the Object History Files may have contained more detailed insights, the Accession Registers offered a wider reach across collection types. This made the registers a better fit for filling the fundamental gaps in our database.

Initially we expected we would simply upload complete scanned pages to Zooniverse much like other transcription projects such as HMS NHS: The Nautical Health Service. However, we realised there were several key problems with this approach. Firstly, unlike primary historical manuscripts, our accession documents contain donor names and addresses which we cannot upload to Zooniverse for data protection reasons. Secondly, having multiple records per page meant a vast workload would be needed after the Zooniverse project ended to assign each transcription to the correct Ke EMu object record. There was also no guarantee volunteers would want to, or have time to, complete entire pages, particularly when difficult handwriting was involved. Lastly, there were practical limits on what file sizes could be uploaded to Zooniverse.

Since we had to carry out General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) checks for each record regardless, we decided to use the time to crop each accession register page into separate object record JPEGs. These files were renamed with the current object number format (e.g. 1945M12) so that the exported data will be laid out clearly as we need it. Any sensitive donor text will be transcribed in-house at Birmingham Museums Trust.

While this approach added extra preparation time to ensure the data sets were ready for upload, it makes the task of sorting the exported data easier whilst keeping sensitive data secure.

What has been achieved?

The records you have transcribed reach across our vast collection, covering a timespan from 1912 to 2002. The range of collection types covered include: 

• Archaeology – Ranging from local West Midlands excavations to places as far as New Zealand, Japan, and North America, the Archaeology registers include pottery, tools, scripture and other artefact types which normally date before the 18th century. Today we organise these objects by region (e.g. North America), historical period (e.g. Roman), or in some cases give special labels to objects deposited together as one collection (e.g. Pinto Collection).
• Applied Arts – This refers to our design, textiles, fashion, and jewellery collections. It’s focussed mainly on British items dating from the 18th century, but also includes material from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
• Fine Art – The home of our painting and sculpture collections, including some of the Birmingham Museum’s first acquisitions. Contains nationally significant collections of British and European paintings as well as notable world art examples.
• Numismatics – A nationally significant collection of coins, tokens and medals spanning from Ancient Greece to 20th century Birmingham.
• Social History – Aimed at 19th/20th century objects originating from the UK, with a particular focus on local Birmingham and West Midlands history. Present-day objects, such as those collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, are also normally recorded under here.
• Topographical Views - A collection of visual resources depicting the changing landscapes of Birmingham from the 18th century to today.
• Natural Sciences – Includes our collections of botany, zoology, entomology, invertebrates, ornithology and geology. Besides it’s general usefulness in studying the history of the Earth, it’s also the most significant collection for representing the West Midlands’ changing biodiversity.
• Science & Industry – Contains our manufacturing, medical, engineering, transport and technological collections. Many key, nationally significant objects illustrating Birmingham’s role in the history of industrialisation can be found here.

We still vividly remember the shock we felt when our initially prepared batch of 28,000 files was completed in less than 2 weeks. Now we’ve surpassed 81,000 records completed, with over 640,000 classifications, by more than 3,000 volunteers. This has truly surpassed all expectations we had when starting Documentation Detectives, and we cannot thank you all enough for your contributions.

A special highlight – The Elephant in the Room

Although we have a long way to go processing your transcription data, the work of Documentation Detectives has already reaped real benefits for our museum. 

Earlier this year Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery launched a gallery display titled ‘The Elephant in the Room: The Roots and Routes of the City’s Collections’. The goal was to explore how different objects originating from around the world had been acquired by the museum, and how this connects to the wider colonial legacies of Birmingham and the United Kingdom.

During development, our team was approached by the exhibit’s curators to see if we had any ideas for objects to include in the displays. Having already gone through the Archaeology registers for Documentation Detectives, we had identified some records which included references, both direct and indirect, to colonial provenances. The curators then used these records not only to pick out the objects, but also to help write the labels. Some of the objects you can now see in the displays include:

• 1983A182 – Aboriginal Club from Daleburra, Australia.
• 1986A128 – Aboriginal Dance Paddle from Raivavae Island, French Polynesia.
• 1964A2511 – Machete ‘Sinnie’ from Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya (1952-60).  
• 1984A59 – Bowl excavated at Abydos, Egypt in 1909.
• 1984A76 – Bowl excavated at Iraq in 1922.

Learn more about Elephant in the Room.  

Turning the Chapter: How will the data be used? Where can we find future updates?

Our core focus for the foreseeable future will be to continue processing your transcriptions. This mainly involves arranging the exported data into spreadsheets with columns that align with categories in our Ke EMu database. Donor information which could not be uploaded to Zooniverse for data protection reasons will be added back in at this stage. Lastly, we will need to identify accession records which do not already have a corresponding Ke EMu record and set them aside to create a new digital entry from scratch.

We have created a dedicated section in Ke EMu specifically to store the accession register transcriptions. These will appear exactly as the Documentation Detective volunteers have typed them up on Zooniverse. Even if more up-to-date research exists for object, these accession register transcriptions will remain clearly accessible and, in turn, enable future research. For example, we can use them to study the changing ways collections have been catalogued and described across the museum’s history.

Alongside data processing, we are designing new projects at BMT which will examine other parts of our archives. We particularly want to encourage local Birmingham residents to engage with the museum documentation right on their doorstep. One such future chapter will be transcribing the Natural Science and Science & Industry registers which we sadly could not upload to Zooniverse due to their layout and proliferation of donor information. 

Another chapter will then begin using that data to fill in gaps in the core object information of Ke EMu. These gaps can range from specific points (e.g. where an object was made) to the existence of objects which were removed from the collection before we began using digital databases.

As we continue to work through future chapters of Documentation Detectives, we want to continue to share our journey. We will post milestone updates on our Zooniverse Talk and Results pages, as well as further newsletters posted here on our Dynamic Collections webpages. Should we decide to undertake another Zooniverse project in the future, we will be sure to post about it in these spaces too.

Want to get more involved with Birmingham Museums Trust?

If you have enjoyed this project, there are lots of ways you can keep getting involved with Birmingham Museums Trust.

We would love for you to come visit us at one of our wonderful museums and historical properties. They offer a glimpse into Birmingham’s rich heritage as well as showcase our world class collections and programming. Please note: not all venues are currently open, please check our website before visiting.

To keep up to date with our latest news and events, consider signing up to our regular newsletter.

If you want to help us continue all the work we do, please check out Birmingham Museums Trust's Support Us page.

Lastly, if you would like to volunteer with us in-person, you can explore our Volunteering Programme. We have a wide range of projects and activities which can suit different interests and availability. It is also a fantastic way to meet people, develop new skills and support our work.

By Alex Pinfold (Dynamic Collections Information Assistant), Suzie Knibbs (Collections Participation Officer) and Ayesha Hussain (Collections Access Officer).