The MAPS Online Archive & Repository: Creating a Digital Twin of Community-Based Cultural Heritage with CollectionBuilder

Abstract

Community-driven cultural heritage archives are on the rise, yet face persistent challenges in sustainability, particularly when transitioning from physical to digital formats. This is especially the case for sister city association projects, which are often volunteer-led and both preserve and serve multilingual and transnational communities. This article examines the Maine–Aomori Printmaking Society (MAPS) Online Archive & Repository as a case study of a grassroots, transnational arts initiative preserved through a “digital twin” using the open-source platform CollectionBuilder. The intent of the study is to explore an accessible, low barrier of entry digital preservation tool that is metadata-driven, customizable, and multilingual, enabling sister cities to maintain control over their community cultural heritage without the need for institutional support. Long-term stewardship capabilities of CollectionBuilder and similar web-based platforms as community archival tools are assessed, with special consideration to volunteer-based knowledge transfer and technical accessibility in regards to community project autonomy. The MAPS Online Archive & Repository demonstrates the potential of digital humanities tools to grant sister cities autonomy, support cross-cultural heritage exchange, and create digital twins that broaden the reach of community cultural heritage projects active on the ground.