The collections of the Province of Upper Austria contain over 200,000 photographs, which are continuously being digitized. These include an extraordinary collection of autochromes of Margareta von Österreich-Toskana (1881–1965). This comprises more than 420 photographs taken between 1910 and 1914. She used the early color process of autochrome to capture stations, scenes and impressions of her private life.

The photographic legacy of Friedrich Morton (1890–1969) is particularly fascinating. Morton was a natural scientist, interested in botany, meteorology and speleology. In addition to natural history, he was also interested in art history, ethnology and folklore studies. The photographic documentation of his field research with over 18,000 images has now been digitized and forms an ideal starting point for the systematic processing of his scientific legacy.

Another focal point is our collection of historical vedute with over 5,000 drawings, watercolors and prints. These show landscapes, settlements, churches, castles and other buildings in Upper Austria. The earliest works date from the 17th century, while the focus of the collection is on sheets from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Archaeological objects from the Hallstatt cemetery, which came to the Linz museum in the 19th century, are now also available in digital form for the first time. Hallstatt, the eponymous site of the Hallstatt culture, which shaped Central Europe between 750 and 450 BC, yielded graves richly furnished with bronze, iron and amber grave goods. These are still the subject of scientific research and interpretation today.

The entire natural history collection of OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH comprises around 17 million objects. Selected collections were prepared for the Kulturpool that stand out due to their importance and are well suited for digitization:

Entomology is mainly represented with several thousand digital copies of typical objects (reference material for species). These valuable objects serve as a basis for the scientific description of species. When a new species is first described, they are labeled and linked to the species name. They are indispensable for the natural sciences as they enable verification, which entails a special responsibility for public museums.

The mollusc collection of the province of Upper Austria is the second largest collection of its kind in Austria. Now over 4,000 particularly magnificent marine species can be shown here digitally. They come from the collection of the entrepreneur Fritz Seidl (1936–2001), which comprises over one million objects. Among other things, the collection contains an enormous variety of particularly rare and magnificent marine molluscs in excellent conservation condition.

In botany, the digital recording of extensive collections was started at an early stage. With over 100,000 photographed herbarium specimens, the botany department currently provides the largest part of our digital offering for the Kulturpool.