2026 NMA Conference Recap: Highlighting AI
Tabytha, our Lead Web Developer, recently integrated AI into historical documents for the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), turning a static archive into a living conversation.
AHSGR was so impressed with her work of making decades of research more accessible to members – they invited Tabytha to speak about the project at the 2026 Nebraska Museums Association (NMA) Conference in Beatrice, Nebraska! This year’s gathering drew a large crowd, bringing together museum and historical professionals from across the state dedicated to elevating Nebraska’s cultural community.
Integrating AI Into Websites: Bringing Power to Historical Archives
Before we helped integrate AI search capabilities, AHSGR’s website archives featured thousands of PDF publications that were available to members, but with very limited search capabilities. Thousands of historical PDF issues were searchable only from a short description, resulting in buried images and content.
What good is having key historical information linking members to their ancestors when they can’t find it? Members were spending more time digging for information than learning.
Our team was honored to help play a role in keeping German-Russian history alive – and help AHSGR members efficiently find historical information through:
- AI-Enabled Search – Implemented Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to transform images into searchable and indexable content
- AI Tool Integration
- Searches and synthesizes information for a user-defined query (i.e. “summarize information regarding the village of Balzer” or “identify articles related to the village of Balzer”)
- Learns as queries are generated and feedback is received by users
The Presentation
Tabytha had the honor of co-presenting alongside Karen Keehr, Executive Director of AHSGR, to share information about the process we went through to develop an AI-Powered Publication Search for their website.
Their session, “Bringing AI-Powered Technology to Historical Archives,” drew a large, curious audience. The conversation focused on the practical journey of equipping a long-standing historical organization with cutting-edge tools.
Key discussion points from the session included:
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Modernizing the Archive: How we helped transition static resources to a dynamic, membership-driven digital hub
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The Power of AI: How the new AI Publication Search has improved the way researchers interact with publications dating back to 1969
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Scalability for Museums: Real-world advice on how historical organizations can adopt similar technology to improve services for their patrons
Post-Presentation Success!
Attendees had great follow-up questions afterwards, eager to learn more about how a solution like AI integration could benefit their organization.
And of course, no trip to Nebraska would be complete without stopping by Runza, a German-Russian creation and a Nebraska staple!
Want Details on How We Integrated AI Into Historical Documents?
We loved seeing so many Nebraska museum professionals eager to discuss the future of digital preservation and how integrating AI can help their organizations! If you weren’t able to make it to Beatrice or if you attended and want to revisit the session, we’ve made the presentation materials available for download.
How can AI integration improve your organization? Let us know if you’re interested in more information!
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