Aalto University: PhotoRobot gives objects third archival dimension

The digitisation effort has focused on a large collection of student art exercise works. Legendary ceramicist and Professor Kyllikki Salmenhaara began to grow a collection of student works in the 1960s and it now consists of some 6 000 objects. One thousand of these have already been digitised and more than 300 can be examined as three-dimensional archival objects.

This provides researchers and others who value the archive’s treasures a fresh dimension to scrutinise. Giving physical access to fragile ceramic pieces would be problematic, but photographs alone can’t always provide a full picture of the objects.

A side-benefit of the archive project is the creation of an efficient self-service process for digitising objects and making more use of the PhotoRobot. The device is now available for use by students and staff.