Omeka: Creating a Box record

There are multiple kinds of Omeka records. These instructions are how to create a place record of city geographic information, which will appear on the public site here. Place records are not specific to an individual artifact or document; they are an information record only. As such, they do not have an Accession Number.

Place records can refer to a variety of information, including lots, buildings, streets, landmarks, labeled points on a map, etc. This is why the category is named broadly as "City Information."

This page will gives two different areas of instruction:

• Updating an existing place record
• Creating a new place record from scratch

Updating an existing place record

This is very easy. However, you must first have a login to Omeka-S, our archiving software; and you must know how to access it and log in. Talk with the director if you are not that far yet!

1. Find the place record. There are several ways to do this, but the easiest is entering a building name, street name, or address in the Search box at the top of the left column.
2. Edit the record. In a search result, click on the pencil icon to the right of the title. If you are already looking at the place record, click the “Edit Item” button in the top right corner.
   1. Text edits, including all descriptive information, occur in fields on the first screen.
   2. Add photographs or other media using the “Media” tab at the top of the record.
   3. Assign the place to an item set like “GREER: city information” if it has not already been added, using the “Item sets” tab at the top of the record. If it is not in an item set, it will not show up in our records.
3. Save the record with the “Save” button in the top right corner.

Creating a new place record from scratch

Though the instructions look daunting, this full process is pretty easy and will take about 5 minutes once you are familiar with it. You must first have a login to Omeka-S, our archiving software; and you must know how to access it and log in. Talk with the director if you are not that far yet!

1. Create a new item using the “plus sign” to the right of the Items category, under “Manage Resources.” Alternatively, in the left menu, click on Items. That screen has an “add new item” button in the top right corner.
2. Set the Resource template: in the first field, drop down and select “Geographic Place.”
3. Set the Class: in the second field, drop down and find the category “GHM Terms.” In that category, select “Geographic Place.”
4. Set the Title with the name of the place: This varies widely based on the type of place you are entering. It is often a street address, but can also be a range of addresses (encompassing a plot that was later subdivided), the name of a building, street, place, landmark, or geological feature.
5. Save the item to make sure you don’t lose your work; click the “Add” button in the top right. After it’s saved, click on the “Edit Item” button in the top right to continue editing.
6. In “Subject,” enter the type of place record. Most common is “Building/business history,” or similar entries (Street name history, lot history, etc).
7. Fill any other fields for which you have information. This might include current street address of the location, architect or architectural styles (particularly valuable when reflecting National Registry buildings). If the place is on the National Registry of Historic Buildings, enter its Registry ID number in the field “National Register Information System ID.”
8. Enter a “Description.” This should be a “biographical” entry about the business, who was associated with it, where it was located, etc.
9. Save the item to make sure you don’t lose your work; click the “Add” button in the top right. After it’s saved, click on the “Edit Item” button in the top right to continue editing.
10. Add the item set. This is critical or the entry will not show up in our records. Click on the “Item Sets” tab near the top. On the right side, underneath GHMadmin, choose “GREER: city information.” In some cases, a second item set can be selected as well; for example, a place could also be included in the set “GREER: African-American history.” If this page is empty and there are no options for you to choose on the right side, then your login account privileges are set incorrectly. Talk to the curator or registrar to get that fixed.
11. Add media (photographs). Click on the “media” tab near the top, then click on the “Upload” button on the far right. Click on it multiple times to add multiple images. Select the files you want, give them a Title, and save.
12. Verify the site is set. Click on the “Sites” tab near the top. Make sure “Greer Heritage Museum” is listed.
13. Link related items. If there is one or more other items in our database — a person, business, artifact, archival document, etc. — that are associated or related to this individual, add a link.
    1. In the “Relation” field, click on the “Omeka Resource” button, then on the “Items” button.
    2. A column will open to the right, where you can search for the existing item. When you find it, click on the title; then click “Select Resource” at the bottom of the column.
    3. You can repeat this process to associate multiple items.
14. Save and verify.
    1. Save the record with the “Save” button in the top right corner.
    2. After saving the entry, go to https://greerheritage.com/omeka-s/ to verify that the item appears in the list, the images are showing, and the data is correct.
15. Geotag the location. This is critical or the entry will not show up on the map. One powerful Omeka capability is displaying all places on a map. Doing so requires that you tell Omeka where to place the map pin.
    1. Edit the record.
    2. Click on the “Mapping” tab.
    3. Pinch/zoom the map to find the location where the pin should be.
    4. Click the pin icon on the left edge of the map to create a pin location, which will appear in the center of the displayed map.
    5. Drag the pin to the best precise location. See other place pins for examples.
    6. Save the record.