The Medici Archive Project selected Boyle Software and BlueDingo today to develop a new generation of web-based archiving and publishing tools.
The archive of the Medici Grand Dukes is one of the greatest yet least known Medici monuments. Established by Grand Duke Cosimo I in 1569, it offers the most complete record of any princely regime in Renaissance and Baroque Europe. Since this Archive consists mostly of letters (nearly three million filling a full kilometer of shelf-space), it offers an incomparable panorama of two-hundred years of human history, as told in the words of the people most immediately involved. However, this unique documentary resource has never been catalogued and indexed, nor microfilmed and accessed by electronic means. Only now, with The Medici Archive Project, is it fulfilling its potential to revolutionize our understanding of the past.
Boyle Software will handle the backend database and middle-tier application programming, while partner BlueDingo will handle the frontend design and user interface. The teams will work closely with Joanne Riley of the Medici Archive Project to define and write the new tool over the next few months. The new tool will be based on postgreSQL, Apache, JSPs and Java servlets. It will replace an existing Access database. Development is scheduled to complete by the end of October, with a production deployment scheduled for early January 2003.
About The Medici Archive Project
The Medici Archive Project is a not-for-profit corporation, which plays a leadership role in the field of historical research and the public awareness of historical issues. Its chief focus is the Archive of the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany (1537-1743), housed in the Archivio di Stato in Florence, Italy.