H eadlines
Digitizes Bar-Hama also partnered
with Blumenthal for NMAJH’s
most recent digitization
will be able to reach a larger project, which allows an online
audience than ever before. The user to not only explore the
sky’s the limit.”
museum’s layout by clicking
Continued from Page 1
 §²¤ž© A digitized view of the National Museum of American Jewish History’s second floor core exhibit
Photos by Ardon Bar-Hama
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around the page but also view
all display cases, zooming into
the cases to view each object
and descriptions in more
detail. Bar-Hama set up a server
for the virtual exhibit in
Germany at a robust server
farm different from the one
used by the museum’s website,
from which the exhibit can be
viewed across the globe.

The virtual exhibit provides
audiences with even greater
detail than the physical
exhibit, allowing online users
to flip through books and view
objects from different angles,
rather than simply view them
from behind the display glass.

“Not only have we made the
point that [audiences viewing
the exhibit online] can actually
come to the museum — for
those who cannot come to
Philadelphia — but they can
get more detail and more
comfort on the computer
screen by doing it in that way,”
Bar-Hama said.

NMAJH flew Bar-Hama
from Israel to Philadelphia
in September 2020 when the
museum was closed, and
Bar-Hama spent almost two
weeks just photographing the
exhibit. The exhibits’ digitiza-
tion consisted of Bar-Hama
taking 360-degree panoramic
photographs around the
museum to capture its layout,
followed by photographing
hundreds of objects in and
out of their display cases from
different angles. He used a
camera with ultraviolet-pro-
tected flash tubes, so as not to
damage the objects with light.

Bar-Hama used
that technique to photograph and
digitize the Dead Sea Scrolls
for the Israel Museum in
Jerusalem and the Aleppo
Codex, the earliest known
Hebrew manuscript that
contains the Torah’s full text.

He’s also digitized an exhibit
for Philadelphia’s Museum of
the American Revolution, but
the digitization of NMAJH’s
entire core exhibit is his biggest
undertaking. “This is a revolution,”
Bar-Hama said. “I don’t think
you will find — if you Google
it — not even a single museum
on the web that you can see
completely.” NMAJH has been at the
forefront of museum efforts
across the country to make
museums more accessible
to audiences, according to
NMAJH Chief Curator and
Director of Exhibitions and
Interpretation Josh Perelman.

During the pandemic-in-
duced museum shutdown,
NMAJH hosted a wealth of
Ardon Bar-Hama
Courtesy of Ardon Bar-Hama
online programming, bringing
in 4 million audience members.

Perelman hopes the virtual
tour makes the museum even
more accessible.

“The root of a project is a
commitment to access and
accessibility,” Perelman said.

“We often think about museums
as destinations — as they should
be ... but the knowledge, the
educational potential, the explo-
ration shouldn’t be limited just
to the few who can visit.”
But now that the museum is
contemplating reopening to the
general public after only being
available for select private
events, Perelman believes
that the virtual exhibits won’t
replace visiting NMAJH’s
physical space.

“I envision a future where
museums are creating both
in-person and virtual experi-
ences with much more
See Digitize, Page 14
12 DECEMBER 2, 2021
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