Practical Tips for Document Longevity
by Marcia Spicer Are you a proud owner of historical material written by or to famous individuals? Perhaps your collection isn’t recognizable to the public but impacts your family or community. Preserving these documents for future generations can be a daunting task for the new or unprepared collector. Too often, collectors inheriting these materials are […]
Backgammon and Bronze Age Toilets: Preserving the Mundane
by Shana Scott Gas station receipts, junk mail catalogs, and notepad doodles aren’t exactly what we imagine future researchers studying to learn about our time in history. And yet, that’s not solely up for modern-day archivists to decide, is it? We’ve written before about the importance of preserving “everyday history,” but what about the stuff […]
Learn: Digital Preservation vs. Digitization
It may feel like the terms “digital preservation” and “digitization” are interchangeable, but it’s better to think of them as fingers and thumbs. All thumbs may be fingers, but not all fingers are thumbs. Digitization is the thumb and digital preservation are the fingers. Digitization is necessary to the overall function of digital preservation, but […]
Video: What Does Access Mean For Your Collection?
For many users, if a collection doesn’t exist where it is searchable online, it may as well not exist at all. What does it take to make a collection accessible, and what would it mean for your organization to have your collection discoverable, online, and accessible? Anderson Archival’s Mark Anderson and Marcia Spicer discuss this […]
Freedom and Flexibility Through Digitization
by Marcia Spicer I recently heard from a curator whose exhibit had been prematurely removed from display. They were understandably upset; detailed work had gone into carefully selecting items from their larger collection, creating displays, and editing placards. They also knew that the history the collection conveyed was important. But a decision-maker who saw the […]
Access Is Essential!, Part 2
by Shana Scott As I outlined in my last post, the purpose of preservation is to protect an object, document, or other material and ensure it lasts for future generations to see and use. I talked about accessibility and what it means for all types of people accessing physical collections. Here’s a statement that very […]
Learn: What is a Digital Collection or Digital Library?
Whether you’re a researcher, student, librarian, or bibliophile, it’s likely you’ve accessed a digital collection or enjoyed a digital library. Using these convenient resources may lead you to wonder how to make your own collection sharable online. Learn about the concepts of digital collections and digital libraries in this Anderson Archival explainer. What Is a […]
Threads of Connection: An Interview with Mark Anderson
by Marcia Spicer In the busyness of our daily routines, it isn’t often that I get to sit down with one of Anderson Archival’s Founding Principals Mark Anderson. But we recently met to discuss our clients, favorite solutions, and what makes history so important to the present. Mark, thanks for taking some time to chat! […]
The Journey to Digitization
by Marcia Spicer Last weekend, my family was invited to dinner at a restaurant. Shortly after food was served, my youngest began melting down. Then, earlier this morning, I had to reschedule a meeting with a potential client. When we made the plans, everything looked great, then life happened. Just like planning a meeting or […]
The Magic of Digital Restoration . . . Hint: It’s Not Magic
by Shana Scott If you watch police procedurals like I do, then you’ve seen the most grainy and blurry photos and videos magically render themselves back together thanks to digital restoration. Like many things on TV, the reality of digital restoration doesn’t match. There are limits to what can be enhanced or restored using digital […]
