Editor’s Note:  Each year PHMC hosts students from Pennsylvania state colleges and universities through The Harrisburg Internship Semester (T.H.I.S.) program.  The interns come from a wide variety of backgrounds and majors and are encouraged to gain writing experience by authoring a blog post on a topic that interests them. 

by Kara Adams, T.H.I.S. intern

A lot can be said about where I grew up and where I went to college, but their one feature in common is their rural natures. While rural communities are excellent places to grow up and live, it’s hard to ignore the disconnectedness they experience from cultural centers, such as museums in big cities. Many museums, however, are taking a new approach to providing access to their collections, with a rise in the usage of social media and the creation of collections databases hosted on the museums’ websites. One Pennsylvania museum taking full advantage of the interconnectivity the internet provides is the Philadelphia Museum of Art, whose online collections database and social media pages give a museum experience to anyone with an interest in history and an internet connection. Continue reading