Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age: Unarchived Initiative by Chinese Canadian Museum Sets New Standard
Vancouver, BC – March 18, 2024
Chinese Canadian Museum is pleased to announce the launch of the Unarchived Initiative, a ground-breaking initiative to digitize and preserve cultural heritage for future generations in a world where technology is quickly transforming how we interact with history.
Our organization has set out on a mission to preserve cultural artifacts from throughout the globe while advocating for equality, education, and accessibility, inspired by the events portrayed in the inspired film Unarchived (NFB 2022).
We are digitizing rare artifacts, documents, and artworks in collaboration with museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions throughout the world, as well as opening them up to a larger audience than previously.
Our Unarchived Initiative has key components to be focused on:
- Cultural Artefact Digitization: The Chinese Canadian Museum produces high-resolution digital archives of cultural artifacts, such as manuscripts, artworks, and historical documents, by employing innovative scanning and digitization processes.
- Accessibility: The Chinese Canadian Museum is removing barriers to access by digitizing cultural artifacts and making them available online, as well as enabling people from a variety of backgrounds to learn about and connect with their common heritage.
- Educational Outreach: In order to help students, teachers, and the general public to gain a deeper understanding of cultural heritage, our organization is creating educational programs and materials to go along with the archived materials.
- Community Engagement: The Chinese Canadian Museum actively engages communities to involve them in the preservation and celebration of their cultural heritage through outreach programs, workshops, and events.
“For much of the history of Canada, what went to an official archive was really in the support of state stories about Canada being this place where some people belonged, and other people didn’t belong. Every record is about the Chinese being a problem and not belonging, and we’re going to document that again, again and again.” Said Dr. Henry Yu, associate professor of history at University of British Columbia, who cooperated and contributed to Unarchived Initiative project with the Chinese Canadian Museum.
The Unarchived Initiative has a greater influence on identity preservation, cultural pride, and intercultural understanding than it does on artifact preservation. Chinese Canadian Museum is making sure that future generations will have more chances to study and be inspired by the rich source of human history by safeguarding cultural heritage.
Chinese Canadian Museum is a public museum operated to honour Chinese Canadians’ history, contributions, and heritage. Founded in 2020, our organization is dedicated to connecting to the Chinese Canadian story and addressing inclusion for all. For more information about the Unarchived Initiative, please visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/.
Contact:
Dr. Henry Yu
University of British Columbia’s Associate Professor of History
Chinese Canadian Museum
Phone number: 604-262-0990
Email: henry.yu@ubc.ca