The Ross Archive of African Images 1899-1920 is a comprehensive database of images representing the majority of illustrations of figurative African objects published between 1800 and 1920 in books, periodicals, catalogues, newspapers, and other publications. Whirl-i-Gig created a custom cataloguing system for the project capable of supporting collaborative research by dozens of scholars, curators, editors and translators working in locations across the USA and Europe, implemented a full-featured end-user search interface and provided ongoing cataloguing and technical support. The project is nearing completion and will soon be transferred to a major university library where it will be made publicly accessible.