Private Owners and Public Access; Using the Web to Provide Access to Historic Properties and Their Contents

Museums and Galleries are the public repositories of national and regional collections of paintings, furniture, ceramics, silverware and other heritage items of great cultural significance. However in the United Kingdom there remain very extensive collections which remain largely intact located in more than a thousand historic houses which are privately owned. Many of these properties are open to the general public at least part of thc year. The world wide web offers the opportunity to provide more extensive access, opening up collections for educational and academic purposes as well as encouraging tourist visits and thereby revenue generation. However changes in organisation and attitude are necessary to bring these rich resources together and to exploit to the full these new opportunities on-line.