One model for the care of corporate heritage: The BT Connected Earth partnership in practice since 2002

Connected Earth is a web based museum of the history of communication,underpinned by a series of major physical collections, distributed among a network of museums around the UK. It represents a £6 million investment by BT (British Telecommunications plc), to promote the widest possible access to its collections of historical artefacts, while ensuring proper standards of care for the collections. Following the closure of the BT Museum in London in 1997, the object collections had been unavailable to the public for several years. The idea of creating a museum on the internet, supported by the distribution of the physical collections to a network of UK museums was first discussed in 2000 and launched in April 2002. The vision was that Connected Earth would provide: · UK wide access to a national, distributed collection for research and interpretation · collections, exhibitions and curatorial posts endowed by BT, but managed in partnership with museum professionals · An engineering, social and economic history of the industry accessible to a wide audience. · The preservation of key artefacts for future generations.