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 […]
Putting a Price on Peace of Mind
by Marcia Spicer No one likes to talk about cost, especially not the ones sending the bill. In the world of digitization, pricing without context can be a deciding factor for many clients, and it is understandably one of the first questions we field. However, digitization is much more than simply scanning a document. […]
What the FADGI!
by Shana Scott If you’ve dipped a toe into the best practices for digitizing a collection, you’ve probably heard the term FADGI thrown about. Scanning manufacturers tout being FADGI three-star or four-star compliant to better sell their product, and articles on beginning digitization suggest following FADGI guidelines. But what is FADGI and why should you […]
Repairing Gaps in History
Anyone who’s dabbled in genealogy knows the frustration of trying to find information many generations back, but African Americans seeking information on their ancestors have unique problems. Those who trace their roots back to enslaved people often struggle to find any records or even names to continue their search. Director Marybeth Niederkorn of the Cape […]
Digging into Cemetery Records
How do organizations decide to digitize regularly used collections? Infrastructural organizations like libraries, hospitals, schools, churches, and nonprofits rely on accurate, accessible records. Putting collections of essential records to the side for processing isn’t always feasible, and digitization isn’t fast when done correctly. Once an organization moves forward with digitizing their collection, decision makers often […]
What’s the Easiest Way to Lose a Collection?
That question seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? In fact, most people who come to Anderson Archival are looking for the exact opposite—the easiest and best way to preserve their collection for the long haul. But if most collection-owners really want to preserve their collections, keep them safe, and make them available to share, why do so […]
Everlasting Ti Amo – Italian Love Letters Preserved
These days, some might consider letter writing an outdated form of communication or even a lost art. But at a time when one couldn’t simply send a text or email to a faraway love, these collections are a testament to everlasting human relationships. Correspondence has the ability to tell a story, and a collection of letters can […]
Beyond Image Capture
In the realm of preservation, it’s essential that a digital file—a digital representation of the original object—accurately captures the current state of a physical object. The image file should effectively serve as a placeholder, an equivalent representation to the original object. That, along with secure storage and access, make up the field of digital preservation. […]
Who Can You Trust with Your History?
Recent Anderson Archival client Steve Brunkhorst found himself the caretaker of four old family albums. Like many others in the same situation, he didn’t know how to share the collection with his family in a way that was fair and sustainable for the materials. But the biggest challenge was finding someone he knew he could […]
Adopting Digital Preservation for a Legacy of Caring
Technology is so engrained in our everyday lives that it can be hard to imagine a time when the only evidence of one’s ancestry was a single handwritten line in an archive across the country. But before the age of virtual records and digital paper trails, this was the only option for some people hunting […]
