Collecting and Digitizing Local History: How to Conduct a History Harvest was the first workshop of its kind offered as a collaborative community outreach initiative presented by RICHES, Celery Soup and UCF’s Department of History.
The workshop provided community organizations and members with tips and techniques on how to preserve their own history by hosting a History Harvest. Participants from St. Cloud Heritage Museum, Goldenrod Historical Society, Sanford Museum, Pine Castle Historical Society, Celery Soup and UCF History students learned to organize, execute and manage the collection of historical artifacts and stories through digital preservation.
UCF Text and Technology students helped to facilitate the workshop, which also included an 
introduction to the RICHES Mosaic Interface. The interface serves as an interactive digital collection of Florida’s history. The tool makes images, documents, podcasts, oral histories, films and visualizations from throughout the state available through a searchable database.
A similar workshop will be offered at the National Council of Public History Annual Conference in Las Vegas. The RICHES team will facilitate a four-hour session for heritage sites, university personnel and students from around the country.
Due to the popular demand of the session, RICHES will offer the hands-on workshop every spring semester. If you are interested in learning more about hosting a History Harvest, call 407-823-0242 or email riches.ucf.edu.