Digital Preservation of Deteriorating Artefacts at Buea Public Museum, Cameroon

Louis Aghogah Wihbongale

doi:10.36256/ijrs.v8i1.625

Digital Preservation of Deteriorating Artefacts at Buea Public Museum, Cameroon

Louis Aghogah Wihbongale

Abstract

Traditional artefacts in African museums face unprecedented deterioration, placing cultural heritage and communities’ connection to historical identity at severe risk. This paper examines the preservation crisis at Buea Public Museum in Cameroon and advocates for the urgent implementation of digital preservation strategies. This article employs heritage preservation theory, digital humanities research, and sustainable development frameworks to address the research gap. The study draws on fifteen semi-structured interviews with museum personnel and heritage professionals, participant observation, and photographic documentation collected across two 2025 fieldwork phases. Analysed using thematic and visual content analysis. The findings show that a large share of the museum’s wooden, textile, and organic collections already exhibit termite, fungal, or moisture damage severe enough to threaten their survival within the current decade, underscoring the urgency of intervention. While well-resourced museum institutions are recognised for digital preservation, the study argues - as a literature-informed advocacy framework rather than as a demonstrated outcome - that African museums such as Buea Public Museum can feasibly adapt comparable low-cost strategies to sustain museum growth and development. The article suggests institutional reform, the adoption of suitable technologies, and the development of collaborative partnerships, providing a pathway to prevent irreversible loss. The article concludes that digitalisation, pursued alongside - not instead of - physical conservation and grounded in community and religious-cultural protocols, offers African museums such as the Buea Public Museum an insightful strategy for cultural heritage preservation.

Keywords

Digital preservation; Cultural heritage; Museum Documentation; Photogrammetry; Community-based Conservation

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.36256/ijrs.v8i1.625