Museum + Cultural Institution Website
Near East Relief Historical Society
Bringing a Historic Humanitarian Story to Life Online
We partnered with the Near East Relief Historical Society (NERHS), an initiative of the Near East Foundation, to create a digital museum and archive that brings the history of Near East Relief to a broader audience. The new website combines immersive storytelling with a large collection of primary-source materials, creating approachable entry points for casual visitors while giving descendants, educators, students, and researchers opportunities to explore the history in depth. A custom API integration with the NetX digital asset management system connects the website directly to the archive, creating a flexible foundation NERHS can continue expanding over time.
Defining a Clear Strategy for a Complex Digital Museum
NERHS wanted the website to become a go-to resource for the history of Near East Relief, while welcoming people with different levels of knowledge and different motivations for visiting. During our LaunchPlan strategic planning process, we mapped audiences and user journeys for the general public, researchers and scholars, educators, students, descendants of survivors, and descendants of relief workers. We then used those needs to shape the site map, navigation, content hierarchy, and pathways into the archive.
A major part of that process was establishing a clear framework for the different types of historical content NERHS would publish. Exhibits provide curated narratives that weave archival materials into a larger story. Collections organize and provide entry points to primary-source materials in the digital archive. Defining these areas gives visitors clearer expectations and gives the NERHS team a sustainable structure for adding content in the future.
A historical archive can quickly become overwhelming, especially for someone encountering the subject for the first time. We applied our Skimmers, Swimmers & Divers content strategy for museums so visitors could engage at the level that felt right for them.
Digital Museum Exhibit Design
Creating an Immersive Virtual Museum Exhibit
At the heart of the digital museum is Answering the Call: How America Mobilized, a permanent virtual museum exhibit that walks through the larger Near East Relief story. Each chapter brings together narrative, historical imagery, archival documents, galleries, quotations, and other media. NERHS has room to tell a complex story while maintaining a strong visual hierarchy that makes the exhibit approachable. Archival materials are managed in NetX and pulled into the website through the custom API integration and our PageBuilderLS tool for efficient content management.
The virtual exhibit landing page gives visitors a clear journey through the content.
Assets from the digital archive are featured via the custom NetX API integration and our page building system.
Date markers and section headers allow for skimming and creating mental maps and timelines.
Call-outs bring important quotations to the forefront. Slideshows put images in context.
At the end of each chapter, the viewer is nudged to continue to the next.
Custom API Integration
Streamlining Digital Asset Management
NERHS maintains its digital archive in NetX, a digital asset management system built to house and organize its historical materials. We developed a custom API-based integration that allows the website and NetX to work together while serving different purposes.
NetX remains the system for managing archival assets and metadata, while the WordPress website provides the storytelling, context, navigation, and curated experience visitors need. Historical assets can be surfaced throughout the website without creating a separate copy of the archive for staff to maintain. This gives NERHS the flexibility to continue cataloging materials in its archive while using those same resources within exhibits and other website content.
The integration also creates a scalable technical foundation. As the digital archive grows, NERHS can continue expanding the public website without rebuilding the underlying system.
Strategically placed calls to action invite the most engaged visitors to dive deeper into the collection
Visitors can browse featured collections or search the full digital archive
Featured collections add interpretive context for assets
Visitors get a sample of the collection, then are prompted to continue to the full digital archive for more
Historically Grounded Visual Experience
NERHS wanted the site to feel contemporary and inviting while respecting the weight and historical context of the material. We built on their existing visual identity, carrying brand elements and graphic patterns throughout the interface and giving archival photographs and documents a central role in the design. Subtle animations and interactive details add polish and movement without competing.
Prioritizing Accessibility
Accessibility was a priority from the beginning of the project. We approach museum websites with the expectation that their content should be available to the broadest possible audience. We applied Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) throughout design and development. Accessibility considerations were incorporated into the design system and development process rather than treated as a separate step at the end.
Expanding the Digital Museum
We created a flexible content structure that allows NERHS to continue interpreting its archive in new ways over time, using the same underlying body of assets to create diverse experiences.
- Voices of Near East Relief presents first-person accounts from relief workers and survivors.
- The A Legacy of Service is a searchable memorial recognizing relief workers with individual profiles that can grow as additional materials become available.
- Dispatches are focused exhibits and in-depth stories drawn from the archive.
- They Shall Not Perish is NERHS’s documentary available for online viewing.
- A Resources section organizes materials and provides a starting point families, students, educators, and researchers.
A Platform Built to Keep Growing
The website was designed as an evolving digital museum rather than a finished archive. Its structured content types, flexible WordPress publishing tools, and NetX integration give NERHS a framework for continually adding exhibits, collections, archival materials, personal stories, research resources, and new discoveries. The team has a clear and sustainable system for preserving and sharing this history for years to come.
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