Dusty to digital

MADISON, Wis. - It's a stately old building with looming columns, worn marble stairways and arched doorways - dedicated in 1900 "to the conservation, advancement and dissemination of American Heritage."

But while the Wisconsin Historical Society contains one of the largest American history archives anywhere, fewer people have visited in recent years - 40 percent fewer than in 1987 - as more of them, including students at the nearby University of Wisconsin, turn to the Internet as their basic research tool.

So the historical society and many other institutions with large collections are doing something they see as means of survival: They're going digital - creating and uploading images of many items in their collections for all the World Wide Web to see.