| Archival collections composed of vulnerable materials require careful monitoring of temperature and humidity. Archivists currently use a variety of data loggers to monitor relative temperature and humidity. Normal data logging systems including the HOBO and eClimateNotebook use expensive digital data loggers whose data is typically converted from an excel spreadsheet to a basic line graph. This project sought to convene with the archival department at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA to see how improving the collection and visualization of environmental data for museum archives. With assistance from a group of experts from the Academy of Natural Sciences, this project developed a low-cost data logging system using Arduino microcontrollers to collect the data, and a custom-built web based interface to visualize the data. We believe that this created an improved data logging system that allowed live data to be accessed via web interface while also generating new visualization methods that highlighted problem areas within the archival collection facilities. |
