The Cayman Islands National Museum is preparing to make a substantial part of its collection searchable online for the first time.
The move, which was planned after a 2025 relocation, will open access to thousands of artefacts that are mostly kept in storage and rarely seen by the public.
Museum director Veerle Poupeye told Cayman Independent that the institution is in the process of improving its digital resources.
Part of this is a website redesign that would allow visitors to search a significant portion of its more than 12,000 holdings through its collections database.
“People who are not in the Cayman Islands and Caymanians abroad can also benefit from what the museum has to offer without having to be physically present,” Poupeye said.
While a launch date has not yet been set, Poupeye said the museum is preparing to launch digital features, including online ticket sales, in the coming weeks.
Beyond the website, the museum is exploring by-appointment viewing of objects normally held in storage, an approach modelled on London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
The appointment system will open access to archaeological artefacts, natural history specimens like Caymanite, historic memorabilia and other objects of significance to Cayman’s culture and heritage.
“We’re really working on making ourselves as available as possible using multiple platforms and multiple strategies,” Poupeye said.
Collection relocation
The access plans grew out of the museum’s efforts in 2025 to relocate the bulk of its collection to a new storage facility in George Town.
This allowed staff to revisit its collection, improve inventory and reconsider how the public interacts with its holdings.
“Things that have been in storage for a long time, we kind of lose sight of them,” Poupeye explained.
“So it was an opportunity for us to look at that, and in fact, a lot of the exhibitions that we have done since then have also come out of that exercise because it has also given us ideas in terms of the sort of exhibitions that we could develop.”
The three-month relocation process, from February to May 2025, was the museum’s largest collection move since the reconstruction efforts that followed Hurricane Ivan.
While the new facility is smaller than the museum’s previous storage space, the move allowed improvements to security and climate control.
Staff now remotely monitor things like temperature, enabling them to immediately respond should an issue arise with the air conditioning and climate control system necessary to protect the collection.
“We are sort of the keepers of the memories – the collective memories of this country – and that’s an important responsibility,” Poupeye said.
In a practical sense, the new storage space is already paying off. The museum’s annual report notes the more energy-efficient facility helped bring its electricity costs down to CI$49,984 in 2025 from $63,353 the previous year.
Database integration
Central to the storage overhaul was a migration of the museum’s internal catalogue from its long-standing PastPerfect database to a cloud-based system, Collector Systems, which offers mobile access for inventory work and easier integration with the museum’s website.
Since the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands uses the same platform, Poupeye said the choice could eventually allow the two institutions to link their databases into a single, national catalogue.
Looking ahead, Poupeye said the museum’s immediate storage needs are met, and its priority now will be acquiring additional exhibition space, with a longer-term ambition of a purpose-built collections facility.
The museum is also seeking to purchase its current storage premises to secure longer tenure.
