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For historical societies and small museums

The interactive exhibit your volunteers can build.

A touchscreen timeline, story gallery, or object explorer that you keep adding to, with no developer and no internet required.

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In short: Tellcase lets a historical society or small museum build its own interactive touchscreen exhibit without a developer. Volunteers pick a template (a timeline, story gallery, object explorer, honor wall, or quiz), add photos, dates, and stories from a web browser, and publish to a touchscreen kiosk that keeps playing with no internet. It runs on a Mac mini, a Windows PC, or a BrightSign player. Plans start at $49 a month with a 14-day free trial, or Tellcase Lifetime is $7,000 one time for up to 5 kiosks.

1The exhibit opens

You’ve probably seen it happen. The budget comes through, a developer builds a touchscreen for the new gallery, and on opening night it’s the best thing in the room. Kids find their street on the old map. Grandparents find the mill where they worked.

2Then something changes

A visitor points out a wrong date. A family donates a box of photographs. The town marks an anniversary. Each change means an email to the developer, a quote, and a wait. So most changes never get made, and the screen that opened as the best thing in the room slowly becomes the most out of date.

Most touchscreen exhibits are finished the day they are installed. Yours doesn’t have to be.

3The fix is to own the update

With Tellcase, the people who know your history are the ones who keep the exhibit current. A volunteer fixes the date from a phone. The new photographs become new cards that afternoon. You preview every change before it reaches the floor, and the kiosk picks it up on its own, or from a USB stick if the gallery has no Wi-Fi.

Touchscreen timeline of Riverbend County history, grouped into eras with category filters
A timeline built with Tellcase for Riverbend County, a sample historical society. See the Timeline template.
Tell us about your exhibit

We’ll show you what it would look like with your history.

Send a few lines about your society, your space, and the story you want to tell. Or start a free trial and build it yourself, no card needed.

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A museum interactive your team runs

4Your three options, side by side

Each one can be the right fit. The question is who will keep it current after opening day.

OptionWho makes changesWorks with no internetWhat you payBest for
A custom build from a developerThe developer, on their scheduleDepends on the buildA project fee, then a quote for each changeA one-of-a-kind game or 3D piece
A slideshow on a TVYour staffUsuallyLowAnnouncements. Visitors can watch but not explore
TellcaseYour staff and volunteers, from any browserYes, by design$49 a month, or $7,000 once for up to 5 kiosksTimelines, collections, people, and quizzes you keep adding to

5What you can build this month

  • Timeline. Your town’s history in eras, with filters for people, places, and industry.
  • Story gallery. Large photo cards for the families, veterans, and businesses behind your collection.
  • Object explorer. One artifact up close, with numbered hotspots for the details behind the glass.
  • Honor wall. Founders, volunteers, or veterans, searchable by name.
  • Quiz. Local history trivia for school groups and families.

Each one runs on a touchscreen with a Mac mini, a Windows PC, or a BrightSign player, in landscape or portrait. Plans start at $49 a month, or pay once with Tellcase Lifetime ($7,000 for up to 5 kiosks). See every plan.

Questions

What historical societies ask

Can a small historical society afford an interactive exhibit?

Tellcase Starter is $49 a month, or $490 a year, for one kiosk with unlimited interactives, and every account starts with a 14-day free trial with no card needed. Tellcase Lifetime is $7,000 one time for up to 5 kiosks, with a quote or invoice for your board or purchasing office. The touchscreen and computer are separate, and you may already own them.

Can volunteers build the exhibit without a developer?

Yes. Pick a template that already has example cards, replace them with your own photos, dates, and text, and click Publish. If a volunteer can fill in a form, they can add a card. Each person gets their own login.

Yes. Download an offline package and copy it to the kiosk computer with a USB stick, or onto a BrightSign player’s SD card. It plays with no internet at all. To update it, copy over a fresh package.

What kind of exhibit works best for local history?

A timeline is the most common: visitors swipe through the decades and filter by theme. A story gallery suits the people and families behind your collection, and an object explorer lets visitors zoom into one artifact with numbered hotspots.

Can we start with the photos and dates we already have?

Yes. Import a spreadsheet of dates and captions all at once, then add photos. Every image gets alt text and a credit line.