We’re looking forward to attending the AMOT Annual Conference 2025, which focuses on The Power of Connection: Reimagining Audiences. The event will explore how Army museums can strengthen relationships with communities, stakeholders, and partners to ensure future impact and resilience.
With speakers from the Army Heritage Branch, Arts Council England, and museums across the network, it promises to be an inspiring day. Our COO, Casper, and Account Manager, John, will be there too - so if you’d like to grab a coffee and have a chat about digitisation, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to work with a wide range of military museums and organisations, helping them preserve, digitise, and share their collections. Attending the AMOT Conference is always a great reminder of the incredible stories held within regimental and corps archives, and the role technology plays in ensuring they remain accessible for future generations.
The impact of this work is best seen through the projects we’ve completed with our clients. Take the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, for instance.
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is home to the distinguished 'Sandhurst Collection', which safeguards a wide array of military heritage, from documents, registers and photographs, to weaponry and artwork. More than a record of military tradition and pride, the collection also serves as an invaluable resource in the education and training of cadets.
For TownsWeb Archiving, this project carried a special significance. Having previously partnered with Sandhurst, we had already digitised parts of the collection, including the nominal rolls, alongside data transcription. This latest phase focused on taking the next step: enhancing accessibility and opening the door to wider discovery.
The launch of their website, powered by our PastView platform, marked a major step forward, transforming the collection into a rich portal for research. With strong international interest, particularly from overseas researchers, the website quickly became a vital platform for accessing Sandhurst’s history from anywhere in the world, and its popularity continues to grow.
Before migrating to our PastView platform, access to the collection was limited to individual records, such as details on specific cadets. Now, researchers can explore entire registers or volumes through a subscription model. While the platform offers flexibility in setting different timeframes and pricing structures, Sandhurst chose to keep things simple with a standard seven-day subscription, ensuring a consistent experience for all users.
We'll explore the ways in which you can monitise your archival collections through our PastView platform, towards the end of this article.
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"The updated web service provided by Townsweb/PastView afforded the opportunity to reconcile our initial web provision with a new vision going forward. With PastView we are now able to edit our content and manage our online data in a way we were never able to do before. Incorporating a legacy system into a new format was understandably not straight-forward. However, the team at PastView were especially patient and approachable; being keen to ensure that the system met our needs - which it certainly does."
- Dr. Sebastian Puncher, Deputy Curator, The Sandhurst Collection
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Another example of our work within the military heritage sector is with The Royal Dragoon Guards, an Armoured Cavalry Regiment of the British Army. Established in 1992, the Regiment has a proud operational history in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Its lineage, however, stretches back centuries, drawing together the traditions of six distinguished Cavalry Regiments.
To support the preservation and management of this extensive history, we worked with the Regiment to load their archive into our PastViewplatform. Access to the collection has been set up to require sign-in, ensuring materials are securely managed while still being available to those with permission to explore and engage with the Regiment’s heritage.
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"By hosting the archive online, we can resource our museum staff and volunteers in their work, providing a time capsule for those that have served in support of their wellbeing. Equally, we can support those from outside the regiment with educational, ancestral and historical enquiries. Throughout this partnership PastView's expertise and experience have been invaluable. Providing innovative, flexible and empathetic solutions to our needs. The outcome of which is our exciting, educational Site. That sustains our heritage, promotes our ethos while continuing to inform and inspire the men and women that serve today."
- Graeme Green, Regimental Secretary
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Alongside Sandhurst and the Royal Dragoon Guards, we’ve also had the privilege of supporting a number of other military organisations in preserving and sharing their heritage, including:
- ParaData – Preserving the voices, lives, and history of The Parachute Regiment & Airborne Forces through archives, equipment, and personal stories.
- Royal Leicestershire Regiment – Documenting the legacy of the Regiment with medals, journals, and a searchable database of “Tigers” past and present.
- Royal Logistic Corps Museum – Providing online access to the history, uniforms, journals, and enlistment records of Britain’s logistics corps.
- The Royal Lancers Museum – Showcasing the proud history of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers with medals, photographs, and regimental journals.
- Western Front Association – Delivering a secure member login portal for accessing archival material related to the Western Front and WWI history.
- Burma Star Memorial Fund – Honouring those who served in the Burma Campaign through memorials, archives, and educational scholarships.
- The Fusiliers Museum – One of our 2025 TownsWeb Digitisation Grant winners, with exciting plans ahead to digitise and open up their collections.
Your collections hold unique stories, and with the right tools, they can also generate valuable income. PastView makes this possible by offering a range of flexible monetisation features, allowing you to provide audiences with deeper, more personal engagement while supporting the sustainability of your archive. From digital downloads to subscription models, you remain in full control of what is made available, how it’s accessed, and at what cost.
Let's take a look at the different monetisation options that PastView offers:
One of PastView’s most popular features is the ability to generate income through paid downloads. While every item uploaded into PastView can be published freely on your website, you may choose to make certain records, images, or collections available only as paid downloads.
Setting this up is quick and simple: select your items, set your price, and publish. This gives you the flexibility to share freely while reserving exclusive material for revenue generation.
For users who want access on the go, offline copies are an attractive option. Entire books, magazines, and journals can be made available for download in formats such as PDF, MOBI, or ePUB, ready to view on their Kindle, PC, Mac, tablet, or phone.
Not only does this offer convenience for researchers and enthusiasts, it also provides you with an additional income stream. Simply enable “Offline Copies” on your chosen items, set the charge, and your audience can enjoy collections without the need for an internet connection.
If you’re employing revenue-generating features, an online shop creates a seamless user experience. A familiar shopping basket or trolley icon allows users to browse, select, and purchase items just as they would in a physical store.
PastView’s eCommerce integration ensures secure payments, protecting personal details and offering peace of mind to your users, making the process simple, safe, and stress-free.
Subscriptions are a proven way to create long-term, high-value income while giving users flexible access to your most valuable collections. Popular among genealogy publishers, they’re equally effective for archives of magazines, journals, or other bound publications.
With PastView, you can easily:
Subscriptions also put you in control of how collections are presented. Content can be hidden from public view or blurred until a subscription is purchased. With built-in Google Analytics integration, you can track performance, understand audience behaviour, and refine your most successful subscription plans.
For institutions or membership bodies, Perpetual Subscriptions provide continuous access to collections. Unlike time-limited subscriptions, these are linked to ongoing membership status and ideal for societies, associations, or regimental groups.
Members simply log in with their credentials, which can be managed via one universal password (updated regularly) or through unique logins. This flexibility allows you to designate parts of your archive as permanently accessible, while still controlling access to more sensitive or time-specific materials.
Whether through one-off downloads, offline copies, or subscription models, PastView enables you to unlock the financial potential of your collections while offering your audiences safe, convenient, and meaningful access. The flexibility to adapt access models to your own needs ensures that your archive is not only preserved, but also sustainable.
We’re also delighted to highlight one of our more recent services: Product Photography. Using high-resolution cameras, macro lenses, and controlled lighting, our studio team captures every detail of uniforms, hats, medals, and other artefacts, ensuring each piece is faithfully documented. With the option of 360-degree object photography, audiences can engage with items from every angle, bringing collections to life in a way that standard imagery simply can’t achieve.
Each object photographed is carefully catalogued with supporting metadata, creating a reliable record that is both visually striking and archivally sound. Importantly, these images and their metadata can be uploaded directly into PastView, seamlessly integrating with your existing collections. This not only enhances online discovery but also provides new opportunities for education, engagement, and storytelling.
Our PastView platform provides a powerful way to showcase, share, and monetise your collections. With an intuitive interface and a suite of advanced features, PastView makes it easier than ever for audiences to discover and engage with your heritage:
Together, these tools transform static archives into dynamic, interactive experiences, helping military organisations preserve their history while opening up new possibilities for access, engagement, and revenue.
Flexible, scalable, and secure. PastView delivers everything a digital collection needs in a comprehensive SaaS platform.
Speak to our team today to find out more, or book a demo to experience PastView in action!