Virtual reunification is the strategy of reassembling physically dispersed heritage collections to produce a consolidated, digitized representation of scattered artifacts, literary and artistic works, and/or archival records of a single origin or common provenance. Scholars of digitization predict that interest in virtual reunification projects will continue to grow among heritage institutions, particularly in cases where dispersed collections present geographic, material, and political challenges that can more easily be overcome in the digital realm. This article highlights key characteristics of virtual reunification efforts taken from existing reunification projects and available literature on the topic, and it also offers ways to frame and approach virtual reunification. While available literature on virtual reunification focuses on specific project details and technical considerations, this article presents models that help to understand organizational and management challenges that virtual reunification planning may face. It concludes by identifying areas for further research in this emerging digital practice.
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