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Can the single piece of physical evidence survive to tell the story?

A Tale of Two Explorers

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The more items preserved from a historical period or event, the better our understanding of what happened, how people lived, and what was important at the time. But sometimes a single artifact or document can shed light on unknown or obscured history. Oftentimes these types of artifacts are hidden away in family collections or lost to the elements, but when found, their importance is incalculable. The evidence of two explorers showcase how important a single document can be to illuminate events that would otherwise remain a mystery.

Greenland’s Tragic Expedition

In 1906, Jørgen Brønlund was one of many explorers and scientists braving the hostile terrain of Greenland in order to map this unknown part of the Arctic. Although the mission to map Greenland was a success, Brønlund would never live to see it.

Brønlund’s team, consisting of him, expedition leader Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, and Niels Peter Høeg Hagen, set out along the coast of Greenland, but a miscalculation about the then-unexplored Danmark Fjord forced them to backtrack and waste precious time. Instead of returning to the expedition’s ship, Mylius-Erichsen believed his team could make it to their original goal of Navy Cliff before summer melted the ice. After enduring a grueling year-long journey, all three perished on the Greenland ice.

The last to die, Brønlund’s remains were found in a cave alone, still in possession of the team’s cartography notes and a diary, which recounted in his own words both the journey and his last days. While the maps helped the expedition’s main purpose, it is the diary that has proved invaluable. Listing dry facts may explain what happened, but to hear the journey in Brønlund’s own voice right up to his death gives life back to the man who wrote it. It paints him as a real person—not merely a historical footnote.

Died the 79 fjord under the hardships of the return journey over the inland ice in November. I reach this place under a waning moon, and could not go on, because of frostbite in the feet and the darkness. The bodies of the others are in the middle of the fjord in front of glacier (about 2-1/2 miles). Hagen died on November 15, Mylius some ten days later.”—Brønlund’s final diary entry, quoted in ArsTechinca

The Mystery on Mt. Everest

There’s an enduring question surrounding Mt. Everest that no one has been able to solve. Who was the first duo to reach the summit, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine or Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay? While Hillary and Tenzing are officially recorded as the first people to stand on the summit of Mt. Everest, the mystery of Mallory and Irvine remains.

In 1924, nearly thirty years before Hillary and Tenzing’s record journey, Mallory and Irvine made their own fateful attempt to reach the summit and never returned. Mallory had several times before attempted to conquer Mt. Everest, without success. On this last journey he was determined to make it, but did he?

Mallory and Irvine were last seen by their support climber, Noel Odell, while he rested at about eight thousand meters up the mountain. According to Odell, the sky around the summit cleared of clouds and he was able to see two black spots climbing and topping the Second Step, one of the most difficult obstacles and mere hours away from the summit. After that, the two climbers were lost from view.

Whether the two reached the summit after Odell saw them is still under speculation, but in 1999 the mystery was reignited when Mallory’s body was finally located. Though there was no proof on the body that Mallory reached the summit, the clues that were there point to the possibility. Among them were Mallory’s detailed plans on how he planned to reach the summit, including an inventory of supplies, and notes on the pressure in the pair’s five oxygen cylinders, one more than he was previously known to have.

Little more than notes and scraps, these writings shed new light on the Mallory expedition and change the probability of Mallory’s success. Many hope that finding Irvine’s body will shed more light on the truth. Until then, the mystery remains.

We are going to sail to the top this time and god with us, or stamp to the top with the wind in our teeth.”—George Mallory in a letter home, quoted in The Wire

Uncover Your Own Revelations

Not all revelations are as dramatic as these two explorers’, and many are found in more hospitable places than the Arctic and frozen mountain tops. A unique family collection may be the only evidence of events or people later generations never knew, such as letters sent during World War II that give new life to deceased family members. Organizational collections can also house artifacts and documents that no one outside of the organization knows about due to limited access.

Digitally preserving these historical materials is the only way to ensure the truth within will survive should the physical object be lost. Once digitized, the audience for a collection can be expanded worldwide.

It is often through improved access that these obscure sources and the revelations within are found. You may not realize the importance of the items in your collection, but someone else may find the only source material that illuminates the history they research—or even reshape it.

 

Do you know what historical gems are in your collection? Beyond damage-free scanning, Anderson Archival takes a detailed inventory of artifacts brought to us for digitization. Searching for a specific topic? Adding detailed metadata to each file makes intuitive discovery a breeze. Would you like to discuss your collection?

 

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Antique Stopwatch

2020: The Time Capsule

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For many different reasons, 2020 was a year to remember. The world handled a global pandemic, upheaval of normal life, and social unrest. How do we preserve the memories of this unique year and the lessons learned for generations to come?

Time capsules may seem like childhood fancy or relics of the past, especially when social media has become an essential part of documenting our personal and professional lives. Many see social media as a scrapbook of sorts, but sometimes these platforms fail to meet that need. And while Facebook and Instagram may seem ubiquitous now, there may come a time when neither is available to serve as documentation of the past.

Even if you like to post every thought and photograph online, when a year as revolutionary as 2020 comes along, it may inspire you to document this chapter of your life in a more tangible way.

Some folks found themselves with the time and opportunity to travel to their childhood home or visit extended family members to spend lockdown with. Others had to manage the belongings and collections from loved ones lost. Rummaging through old family heirlooms may have uncovered time capsules from other eras, like the box of letters your grandparents wrote to one another or the storage locker of collectibles you knew your dad kept but had no idea of the scope and detail of the history behind it. Every collection serves as a time capsule in its own way, offering a snapshot of a particular moment in time.

Professional archivists and amateur historians alike often share the mentality of collecting everything now so that the value of that collection can be fully realized in the future. In ten, twenty, or one hundred years, you may be shocked by what you saved that holds resonance.

This printout has some great starting points if you’re not sure what’s worth recording, or follow NPR’s Life Kit podcast’s advice and make a throwback ‘zine about your 2020 experience!

Been taking lots of photos of your pet’s daytime activities that you haven’t typically been home for? Try creating a digital scrapbook of cat snapshots or a website gallery you can share with friends. Photos that capture the feelings of isolation, candid masked selfies, the heat of a local protest, or tranquil pockets of nature can all prove valuable to future historians (or future friends and family) as a record of 2020. A printed photo book that can be flipped through might make a good gift for a family member who missed out on social activities. Something tangible might make a nice change as memory of a year that was spent so much online.

Even the small things hold meaning and memory. Remote work became a staple of many workplaces in 2020 out of necessity when the world seemed to shut down overnight. This was a major change for a lot of workers, and it came with its own set of mental, technical, and security challenges. For those of us lucky enough to work from home since the lockdowns began in early 2020, it might be fun to document some of the experiences you’ve undergone with that change. Ask to take screenshots of your office Zoom lunches to document the ups and downs of connecting with your coworkers in a new way.

Regardless of how you choose to document this year, here are some tips to make sure your 2020 capsule will last:

Back up all digital media. Two backup methods are always better than one! On top of keeping a physical copy on a flash drive or external hard drive, saving your time capsule to the cloud not only assures that you won’t lose the images and documents if the physical method fails, but it also makes it easier to share with friends, family, or on social media. Don’t forget to save your materials in file formats that will stand the test of time.

Organize as you go. Not only is doing this best preservation practice, but it will also make viewing and using your time capsule in the future much easier. If you decide to add metadata to your collection in the future for improved searchability, labeled and sorted materials will make that step all the easier. There’s nothing more frustrating to the personal historian than opening up a folder or album years later and finding unlabeled, unfamiliar faces. Documentation will be a key part of enjoying your collection and passing it on.

Use appropriate storage materials. All physical items in your time capsule should be stored in acid-free, archival-grade boxes, envelopes, or storage containers. The storage environment is equally important. Make sure your time capsule is safe by keeping it out of humid or variable temperature environments like attics or basements. As fun as it might be to bury your capsule, unless the vessel is secure and meant for that environmental stress, you might be sending your valuable memories to decay.

And one last tip: Consult the preservation experts! Anderson Archival is always available to field any preservation questions you may have about documenting one of the most unforgettable years of this century. And if part of your year involved introduction to an existing collection that hasn’t been digitally preserved, the time is right to read about the ways to keep it available for the future.

As we kick off 2021, Anderson Archival is here for your digital preservation needs. Contact us at any time: we can’t wait to hear about your pieces of history.

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Having Trouble Digitizing Your Collection? Meet Your Solution!

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What does your historical collection look like? Perhaps you have a box of bound manuscripts you’d like preserved for future generations, or maybe you have a library full of historic publications and loose papers that need organizing before you can even think about what the next steps are. The histories humans choose to save and share are vast and varied, and not every approach to digital preservation is going to be the right approach for your collection.

Collections of all shapes and sizes have come through Anderson Archival’s doors over the years. We’ve seen everything from re-processing poorly digitized collections to an oversized map from WWII. Some of our clients had a collection they knew they wanted digitized, but felt overwhelmed trying to start because of all the planning and physical work involved. If you have a bound paper collection that’s been sitting around for a decade and aren’t sure where to start, there are a few options available to you, including the solution of employing professional archivists to take the work out of your hands and get it done right.

Paging Through Paper Collections

Assessing the scope, time allotment, and potential snags beforehand can help your project run smoothly. For those tackling a smaller, loose paper collection, you may find a digitization solution under your own roof. If you own a combination printer/scanner, that may be enough to handle your loose papers. But scanning individual pages using a flatbed scanner is a more time-consuming process than many collectors expect it to be. It requires constant oversight and handling of the materials.

It may be tempting to utilize the auto-feed feature of a scanner for loose materials, but watch out for rips, snags, paper jams, and pages that are stuck together and not digitized. Auto-feeders should never be used for one-of-a-kind or fragile documents.

Collectors rightly expect their materials to be handled with the highest quality care standards when in the custody of a digital archivist.

Scanning bound materials is another matter altogether. Anyone who’s tried to scan a page of a book in a university or library setting knows how difficult it is to capture the entire page in an image—forget about trying to get an exact replica of a page using this method. Page scans will appear crooked, shadowed, blurry, or otherwise obscured by the limitations of a flatbed scanner.

For an accurate capture on a flatbed scanner, bound books would need to be split at the spine, damaging the original in order to capture high quality scans. Pressing books into a flatbed scanner is less risky in terms of damage to the book if the spine is well-bound, but often results in a lower-quality image. Fortunately, there is no need to resort to destructive methods of digitization. Alternate scanning technology is the best solution for collectors who have not digitized for fear of causing damage to their physical materials. You need not compromise the integrity of the original to preserve it.

Cradle Your Collection

A great addition to any digitization setup is a V-cradle scanner, which allows the capture of high-quality images with much less damage to the physical material compared to a traditional flatbed or auto-feeder scanner. A V-cradle scanner allows archivists to fully scan bound materials without splitting the book’s binding or damaging delicate originals.

These scanners, like all technology, vary in specifications and end results. The more elaborate and expensive scanners possess innovative constructions of cameras, lights, mechanical design, and image capture software. Full-spectrum light creates a reliable image that reflects the original exactly.

V-cradle scanners can boast superior image quality, robust software, and modular imaging technology that’s easily adaptable for materials with specific constraints. Any industry-grade scanners should be able to meet FADGI guidelines for quality images. The intuitively-shaped V-cradles come in a variety of sizes with adjustable settings and can support most standard-size books, enabling digitization of many kinds of books depending on the chosen cradle size. For institutions or archival companies who have this type of scanner, the power, specs, and flexibility open the door to a wider variety of project opportunities.

V-cradle scanners can boast superior image quality, robust software, and modular imaging technology that’s easily adaptable for materials with specific constraints.

Compare this system to that of the Afro-American’s Project Gado, which allows the newspaper to employ an efficient digitization process for their overwhelming amount of photographs saved over the years. Of course, a bespoke solution like Project Gado isn’t a feasible option for the individual collector who wants to digitize their bound materials, and neither is permanently damaging an entire collection just to make digital copies on a traditional scanner.

Collection Protection

Collectors rightly expect their materials to be handled with the highest quality care standards when in the custody of a digital archivist. The collections themselves need a safe and confidential storage area, especially for old or delicate materials susceptible to damage from environmental factors. Collectors often know from experience that storing materials in a damp basement or drafty attic will have an effect on paper materials, so an archival storage area free of mold, pests, and light pollution is essential.

Professional archivists have the space and knowledge to keep your collection as safe as possible during every step of the digitization process. They understand the storage needs of paper, which can be volatile depending on age and condition. They’re also trained in handling old or fragile materials, preventing accidents that may occur with less experienced collection custodians.

Investing in the right equipment, hours of organization and scanning, and the education required to process a collection the right way often isn’t feasible for individuals or busy organizations. Digitization professionals come with the right tools for the job. Reaching out for help from a firm with the right resources and know-how takes care of everything.

What does your bound collection need? Let Anderson Archival know how we can help fulfill your vision for your digitized collection! Call 314.259.1900 or complete a free consultation form to introduce your history to our solutions.

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The Path to Funding Your Archival Project

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You have big dreams and your organization has a big impact on communities, but sometimes you run into big roadblocks when funding your projects. Some of your projects include protecting and preserving documented history, which is our mission as well, so we know how important it is to be able to fund those projects. Asking for money can be hard, and can be a daunting task, especially when you need to raise a substantial amount.

However, you aren’t alone in this process! When you partner with a trusted archival company, they will be with you every step of the way. Here’s the three-step path we recommend for funding your archival projects.

  1. Tell Your Story

This is the single-most important foundational factor when funding your project. Telling your story establishes who you are and why you exist. What problems are you solving in your community, and why can’t it thrive without you? What resources do you make available? What collections are you preserving for historical research and future generations?

Don’t just tell your story. Share it in such a compelling way that your readers will want to jump on your band wagon, hail their friends, and enthusiastically dive into the work you’re doing. For this, social media can be incredibly productive. Creating videos, online events, groups, and pages will help capture interest and followers. Many archival companies can also assist in creating a web presence that matches the upcoming project or archive!

Part of telling your story is listing your goals for the future. When you ask for funding, make sure you explain why you need money and how it will be used, which is something your archival company can help you with. Be specific. Why do you need it to impact the community? And don’t forget to tell why your partnership is important.

  1. Ask for Donations from Private Donors

Whether it’s time or money, people are more likely to give when asked directly. Review your donor list and identify a handful of friends or donors who align best with the goals of the project. These are the donors who are moved by your mission and purpose. Use the old-fashioned method of mailing personal letters. Call potential donors on the phone and set up a meeting. Tell your story, explain your need and tell them why you thought of them, how their values align with yours, how they can help, and that they will directly impact a need.

People want to be needed. If you can outline exactly how a prospective donor can help, they will be more likely to invest, and personally asking people and being prepared to answer their questions will establish a foundation of trust.

Historic works are always at risk of damage due to accidents or simply handling the documents, which makes digital library preservation imperative. Explaining that preserving these documents is of utmost importance, and laying out exactly what will be lost if these documents aren’t preserved digitally will paint an honest picture of why you need the help of donors.

Partner with a trusted archival company who will help you communicate with those outside of your organization. They will help educate and energize your key donors on the possibilities and benefits of your digital archiving project.

You are not alone in this process. Your archival partner can provide demonstrations, presentations, and education. They will explain the importance of archival quality and doing your project right the first time.

  1. Apply for Grants

Did you know that both the private sector and the government have grants available for library preservation?

Applying for grants might be a little intimidating. A grant proposal is involved, and there are so many, many grants to apply for. Where should you start? How does receiving funds from foundations work?

Applying for grants takes more specialized expertise than marketing. In fact, it might be helpful to hire a grant writer. Again, you may have to spend money to make money. Charitable requests, whether government or not, aren’t just for giving away free money. Your mission must be aligned with their mission, and a grant writer will help you apply in a way that appeals to this connection. If you still want to go through the process yourself, you can find many guides, including this simple step-by-step guide.

Grants can be worth incredibly large sums, and there are a surprising number of grants available for nonprofits and libraries.

Don’t stop there!

You can use any or all of these strategies. Some build on each other, and each compliments the rest. Now all you have to do is continue to build your relationships. Make sure you thank your donors and invest in working relationships with them. This will remain important for future projects. You want your donor to take ownership of projects and be just as dedicated as you are. Don’t just use their money. Show them how they’re directly helping, which can be as simple as sending out regular newsletters or taking time to have personal conversations.

At Anderson Archival, we know how important preserving historical collections is for future generations, and we want to help you create the best digital collection possible. On occasion, our customers ask us to meet with significant donors to explain the benefits of creating a digital library and we have found this to be effective. Call us today at 314.259.1900 or email us at info@andersonarchival.com for more information on ways to fund your archival project and how to build a digital library!

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How It All Began: The Start of Anderson Archival

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Before Anderson Archival, there was Anderson Technologies. It might seem strange that an IT company would branch into digital archiving, but the story behind this expansion showcases what clients of both firms know about us: integrity, dedication, and client focus are core values at the heart of all we do. Our hallmarks include expertise and quality service because your satisfaction is how we define our success.

Anderson Archival came to fruition because we learned the hard way that sometimes to do a job right, you really must do it yourself.

The First Project

As Anderson Technologies, we provide far more than managed IT services support. When a client approached us years ago to digitize a large collection of documents for research purposes, we utilized our technical management capabilities to facilitate the project.

Identifying appropriate partners in the required disciplines to properly execute the project was harder than we anticipated. We eventually teamed with a local vendor to scan and restore the images and handle the optical character recognition (OCR) to convert pictures to text before we performed the document data tagging, software engineering, and quality assurance.

As the vendor delivered data to us, we identified numerous quality issues. They produced work that was not up to the high standards we needed for the collection. Missing pages, poor scan quality, and inaccurate conversion to digital text caused us to double check everything and send a great deal back to be redone. As the project continued, we realized we could have done things correctly the first time by bringing the tasks in-house.

The Problem

The experience taught us a great deal about digitization services, and we learned it takes more than technology to create a quality digital library. Anyone can get the best scanners or software on the market, but without dedicated employees, efficient systematization, the proper work environment, and an unflagging commitment to quality, the end result suffers.

For example, we later discovered the vendor only required a high school education for its staff. The goal of these workers, who were crammed together elbow-to-elbow in a conference room, wasn’t to produce the best product they could, but to push pages out the door as quickly as possible.

We also learned they didn’t have the necessary tools to facilitate the detailed quality control needed for the images. Though their scanners and software were excellent, their monitors were too small to display the entire page without being zoomed out so far that the image became useless for a quality check.

By the time the project was complete, we learned many lessons on how not to digitize historical documents for quality search results. When another client approached us with a project to digitize historical documents, we knew using traditional scanning vendors would produce inaccurate results. This time, we were going to do it ourselves and do it right.

More Than Just Scans

There is far more to digitizing a precious collection than simply scanning the pages. Our clients want extremely accurate search results, which means the images must be converted to text via OCR and labels (or tags) need to be inserted to guide the search engine to produce relevant feedback. This requires not only the correct software, but a great deal of time and attention to detail by those transforming the data. It is important to select a firm who will treat your collection with the same focus and enthusiasm you do.  Working with a third party who doesn’t cherish the opportunity to preserve your documents causes the end result to suffer dramatically.

Keep an eye on our blog to see how we applied these lessons and expanded into the business of historical document digitization. If you want to turn your collection into a quality digital library with the most accurate search results, contact Anderson Archival today at info@andersonarchival.com or by phone at 314.529.1900.

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blockchain

More Than Bitcoin: Taking Blockchain Technology to Preservation

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What do Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have to do with archiving? The technology cryptocurrencies are built on – the blockchain – is drawing attention from those who seek to innovate within all industries, including archival.

This is especially relevant for the future of the archival community, as blockchain holds a potential solution to problems of impermanence and authorship. Many institutions, such as the UK government’s National Archives and Civil newsrooms, are considering and advocating the merits of blockchain-based repositories. While these proposed repositories do not yet exist, in theory they could ensure continued, unalterable preservation through embedding full text or original image scans into the fabric of the blockchain.

As purveyors of archival collections know, there are potential problems that can plague digital and physical archives. Blockchain technology provides a theoretical answer for two of those problems: integrity of authorship and permanence.

What is the Blockchain?

The simplest explanation is that blockchain allows for the average person to trust the authenticity of the digital world.

The blockchain is a collection of transactions. “Each new block references every block before it—so changing one block corrupts the whole chain,” says Blockchain for Grandma. Powerful computers perform randomized math to build the blockchain, and each block in the chain is permanent, immutable, and static.

In the case of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency on the blockchain, a transfer means another entry on the chain, which keeps a record of its creation and every transfer in its history. The massive network maintains its own integrity, confirming and double-checking every creation, or transfer.


A short blockchain explanation from Real Vision. “Each new block that is written contains something called a cryptographic hash, a small mathematical fingerprint of the blocks that came before it in the chain, making it extremely difficult to tamper with the data that resides inside the blocks.”

Blockchain embeds authentication into the document itself, and protects against tampering and modification. In essence, this works similarly to file-sharing services like DropBox or OneDrive, where local copies synchronize changes across all those with access.

Permanent digital records offer an enticing solution, especially in a world where records may easily be accidentally or maliciously deleted.

Integrity and Permanence Built into the Blockchain

Consider this scenario: A student writing a paper on Chaucer cites what is stated to be the original text reprinted in a textbook. Another student is able to present another instance of the so-called original text in an anthology, but that excerpt has changes. Obsessing over the disparity, the students track down other versions of that same “original text” to compare them. They discover that in one early printing, a comma was added and the spelling of a word modernized. Some textbooks reprinted the text prior to this printing, and some used the modern printing – all claiming to contain the original text.

Had this scenario unfolded on the blockchain, clear record would exist of the creation, editions inserting changes, and where copies originated. However, in the physical world, it is often unclear just where words have come from.

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, when conducting research, multiple sources should be used to confirm facts. Whenever possible, it recommends going back to the original source. How do you know you have an original? Aside from consulting an expert, signals of authenticity in the real world include watermarks, signatures, and embossed seals. This recommendation is intended to circumvent the type of error-introduction shown above. But when this vigorous research is not conducted, how much print and research is then tainted by incorrect publication of facts or text?

When a digital library offers original pages with searchable text, the integrity of that text is placed implicitly in the hands of the archivist.

Many times, historical documents only exist physically as single-copies that are inaccessible to researchers. Digital scans can easily introduce errors or inaccurate information if an archivist’s agenda strays from true preservation. Ultimately, there is very little beyond trust that guarantees a digital library is a valid source, displaying the original.

But when dealing with important topics, trust and integrity might not feel like enough. Blockchain-like records or blockchain itself could provide a solution.

Case Studies

Until now, blockchain has only been practical for ultra-simple archiving processes, such as embedding text into a cryptocurrency transaction. The technology and means for widespread use in digital archives simply doesn’t exist. However, that may soon change.

ARCHANGEL

In a strictly archival sense, the UK National Archives is testing how blockchain might create a way to verify the accuracy of archived documents through a project called ARCHANGEL. The project is intended to directly combat the problem of digital storage becoming obsolete and inaccessible, and is currently in development stages.

Civil

Focusing more on the journalistic side, Civil newsrooms propose utilizing blockchain technology in two ways. The first ensures that published content in approved newsrooms is permanent and maintains a permanent link to authors and facts. The second uses CVL token transactions, owned and transferred by members of the Civil community, to indicate which newsrooms are trustworthy and eligible to remain on the Civil platform. The biggest barrier to entry with Civil and CVL is the learning curve. If the public doesn’t understand the process of utilizing blockchain in journalism and digital archives, the worth of that technology drops, and a failed first launch attempt has proven that.

Because blockchain has such a steep barrier to understanding and entry, it isn’t likely to take the world by storm any time soon. And because one of the purposes of creating digital archives is access, blockchain isn’t a feasible solution yet.

While blockchain may be the solution for the future, Anderson Archival understands and provides the current methods and standards of preservation. However, we do explore myriad methods of keeping data and originals safe from deterioration. If you’d like to explore the options that future technology could hold for the integrity and preservation of your collection, contact us today at 314.259.1900 or info@andersonarchival.com!

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Casanova Confidential: Harding’s Letters and the Ethics of Preservation

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How do we balance our responsibility to accurately record history and our dedication to preserving it ethically?

Experienced archivists know how to separate their personal feelings from the materials they set out to preserve. They aren’t always tasked with endorsing the material, but simply preserving it. Dedicated archivists feel obligated to document the past, regardless of their opinions about the material.

The Society for American Archivists (SAA) first established an official code of ethics in 1980. It emphasizes both the need to make collections accessible to its audience and limits that audience in ways that protect “the donors, individuals, groups, and institutions whose public and private lives and activities are recorded in their holdings.”

In order to examine the role of ethics in digital preservation, consider an interesting case study from SAA’s research.

Controversial Correspondence

President Warren G. Harding first served in the US senate from 1915-1921, and then in the Oval Office from 1921-1923. Before his time in politics, he owned and operated a local daily newspaper, The Marion Star, with his wife Florence. He eventually became an active and well-known Republican due to his influence in local media, and his air of refinement and confidence led to his rise to national leadership.

The illusion of success didn’t last long into his presidency, however. Harding built his political platform on restructuring the government after the havoc of WWI, and this national inertia left a door open for corporations to corrupt the government from the inside out. Under-the-table deals like the Teapot Dome Scandal happened behind Harding’s back. His term as president was cut short when he passed away in 1923 before he could witness the extent of his cabinet’s infractions.

Our twenty-ninth president was also quite the Lothario, as White House rumors suggest. Only some of the transgressions during Harding’s short presidential term have been proven, but an affair before his time as president serves as the cherry on top of a less-than-stellar reputation. Before his days in the US senate, Harding befriended an acquaintance of Florence’s named Mrs. Carrie Fulton Phillips, and they began an affair that would last the better part of fifteen years. A closer analysis of Harding’s letters to Phillips reveals the explicit nature of their relationship, as well as hints that Phillips may have been a German spy, though those rumors are yet unfounded.

Clandestine Preservation

Nearly forty years later, an archivist named Ken Duckett became the curator of manuscripts for the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) from 1959 to 1965. The Harding family was fiercely opposed to any facts coming to light that might affect the former president’s reputation, which complicated negotiations with the Harding Memorial Association’s (HMA) materials. The HMA was carefully filtering the materials and removing anything that painted Harding in a negative light.

After Phillips’ death in 1960, Duckett managed to procure a collection of 240 letters and other correspondence between Harding and Phillips. When the box full of letters came into his possession, Duckett protected them in a safe deposit box until the Harding family agreed to hand over their historical materials. But still he worried about their safety and the validity of the historical record. For this reason, he made the controversial decision to secretly create microfilm copies of the letters and hide the originals in an OHS vault. Had the HMA known about these letters and their subsequent copies they would have immediately been destroyed, even though the love-letter-less collection they eventually presented to the OHS left significant gaps in Harding’s political legacy.

“On July 22, 1964, he wrote to Oliver Jensen of American Heritage ‘I have heard the words “burn, destroy and suppress” so many times since I acquired the papers, that I am determined that extraordinary precautions must be taken to insure their preservation and use by historians.’ Included with the letter was a copy of the microfilm sent for safekeeping. By taking this action Duckett was fully aware that he was placing his job at risk.”

After the release of a revealing Harding biography, a law suit from Harding’s family, and the resulting media circus surrounding the letter scandal, Duckett was forced to surrender all four known copies of the microfilmed letters—but secretly kept one copy for himself. This guaranteed that Harding’s marks on American history could never be erased, even if those marks were less than dignified.

The Harding family then donated the letters to the Library of Congress in 1972 after being assured they would be kept private until fifty years from the date the case was officially closed. The Library of Congress opened the letters to the public in 2014, mere days after Duckett’s death at age 90.

What Moderates The Test of Time?

Duckett’s choices raise some important questions about the ethics of documenting history. How does one determine what should be preserved? In a perfect world, all material with cultural significance would be around forever for future generations to learn from and enjoy. The act of preserving any material implies that it has inherent value—otherwise, why bother preserving it at all? But should sensitivity or, in this case, public image, override value?

At Anderson Archival, we respect the preferences of our clientele, and within those preferences we maintain utmost accuracy, confidentiality, and precision in preservation. Importantly, the SAA doesn’t draw clear lines to define accessibility and restriction for every collection because every collection is different. The job of each archivist is to preserve with these ideas in mind, and the preservation of the Harding letters serves as an exercise in ‘what would you do.’

Whether Duckett is a hero or an outlaw is up to each reader to determine. Striking a balance between accessibility and restriction is what Anderson Archival strives to do with every collection we work on. In fact, the majority of our projects thus far have been private, and kept confidential. At what lengths should archivists go to preserve history? We leave that decision up to you.

Do you have a collection that needs to be digitized, even if it’s only for your eyes? Need help determining the scope of its audience? Contact Anderson Archival today for a free consultation, or call us now at 314.259.1900.

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have you found a treasure? here are the next steps for preservation

Treasure or Trash?

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Those of us who’ve seen Antiques Roadshow a few times have probably reflected on the once-thought-worthless item that ends up being worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. How can someone not know what they have is priceless? And on the other hand, how can that dusty old artifact be worth anything? Sometimes those antiques (and national treasures) have been found in the most bizarre places such as Goodwill and attics of old homes.

Time seems to have a curious effect on historical items. It seems that, as times change, different value is placed on seemingly valueless antiques. For instance, a family had a 1820s copy of The Declaration of Independence, and originally had it framed and displayed in their home. However, as the years went by, it was eventually considered worthless and stored, in its broken frame, in a closet. In 2014, it was found by a relative who realized its significance.

This story could happen to anyone. Some of these items end up being national treasures, and others irreplaceable family history. So, here are a few ways to determine whether your old junk is worth preserving.

Research

You can do some simple research on your own to determine whether your object is worth paying an appraisal fee. The Smithsonian says that university or area libraries, state and local historical societies or museums, and state extension services should be able to help you. If you are dealing with a document of questionable origin, see if you can find this document at any or all of these local historical libraries. Likely as not, there will be copies out there, unless it is a private letter. If it looks like the document came from the era it says it does, and you have reason to believe it’s authentic, take it in for an appraisal.

Appraisal

If you want to skip doing your own research or your document seems like it could be a true historical document, you should get it appraised as quickly as possible for insurance reasons. An appraisal should tell you not only what the document might be worth, but also information about its age, condition, and historical significance. Finding out the history of your document might be difficult to do on your own, but appraisers will be able to put you on the right track for further research.

Restoration, Preservation, or Marketing

What next? You need to decide what you want to do with your discovery. Are you going to keep it or sell it? Is the document in good shape or is it crumbling and quickly becoming illegible? Restoration services are available, but no matter what you do, we recommend getting it digitally preserved as well.

If you’re wanting to sell your document, your appraiser should be able to help you find a good outlet, whether a library, museum, or private buyer. They should also be able to recommend you to a reputable company that can restore your document if you desire.

If you want to keep your document, whether it needs restoration or not, digital preservation is essential. The government suggests specific guidelines for digitizing documents on their FADGI (Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative) website. If these seem daunting to you, consider outsourcing for quality digitization services.

Digital Preservation

Digital preservation is important for a number of reasons. For instance, if a disaster befalls the original, that’s not the end of its story. You might lose the original historical piece, but at least you’ll have a backup saved for posterity to read and study. Aside from preserving your document in case of a disaster, digital preservation can make your research much more accurate and less time consuming if metadata is infused into the digital copies.

Your archivists can optically recognize (OCR) your document, making it readable to the computer so you can search it for keywords using database software like Adobe Reader. If metadata is added, you’ll be able to organize your documents in a digital library. What’s more, you will be able to share your document with others electronically and use technology to zoom in on the document while you study it without risking its damage.

Anderson Archival takes document preservation seriously. Our team of dedicated archivists are trained in the latest technology to preserve your documents digitally. So next time you shop at Goodwill and realize you’re looking at a 244-year-old-newspaper, you’ll know just what to do with it!

Are you ready to preserve your historical documents? Call Anderson Archival at 314.259.1900 or email us at info@andersonarchival.com, and a member of our team will be happy to answer your questions.

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Protecting History with DLME

Protecting and Preserving History in Uncertain Times

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What is the duty of a library or museum? Take a moment to come up with some answers. Did you say…

  • To preserve knowledge?
  • To protect the history and cultures of past peoples?
  • To share that knowledge and history with the public?
  • To help people learn about the world around them?

You probably didn’t answer to make looting of antiquities unprofitable or to catch criminals selling black market artifacts. But that’s just what the founding organizations of the Digital Library of the Middle East (DLME) envisioned in the wake of physical, cultural, and political conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Soon, their vision will be a reality.

What is the DLME?

Founded in 2016 by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the Digital Library Federation (DLF), and the Antiquities Coalition, the DLME intends to bring together existing Middle Eastern digital libraries from institutions and private collections around the world into a single searchable platform. The DLME will include all types of cultural heritage materials, extensively photographed, catalogued, and searchable in multiple languages.

Through this free-to-use online platform, the DLME intends to serve the “partners and peoples across the Middle East and North Africa—to help reveal, share, honor, and protect collections of cultural materials and the living and historical cultures they represent.” This platform offers scholars and researchers ease of use and includes images, metadata, location, and provenance when available for all items listed.

However, they want to be far more than a resource for students and scholars. Wars, both civil and foreign, have decimated the MENA region. Black market antiquities trading is a consistent source of income for terrorist organizations and warring states. The DLME will provide a large-scale database of known artifacts—documented and digitized—that customs officials, law enforcement agencies, and art dealers can use to determine if an item was stolen or looted from a conflict area. This not only helps to return objects to their rightful places, but also stops terrorist groups from funding their activities.

The Antiquities Coalition created this infographic to show just how digital databases help mitigate looting and the illegal antiquities trade. The DLME intends to bring countless databases together, making searching for the history or authenticity of an item far easier.

Antiques Coalition Combat Looting Infographic

Why Do We Need to Digitally Safeguard History?

In the past 20 years alone, countless artifacts, manuscripts, and historical sites located in conflict zones have been lost. In 2003, while U.S. troops entered Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Baghdad’s Iraq National Museum was looted of nearly 15,000 items, including “ritual vessels, heads from sculptures, amulets, Assyrian ivories, and more than 5,000 cylinder seals.” The looting lasted 36 hours before U.S. troops finally secured the site.

The loss could have been much worse. Many of the most valuable items were moved to a secret storage area known only to five people to safeguard them from looters, and a trove of gold, jewelry, and precious stones had been moved decades before to the Central Bank’s vaults for safekeeping.

Recovering these items was further complicated by the lack of computerized documentation or photographic evidence. The Iraq National Museum had only begun the process of cataloguing its massive inventory into a single digital database when the looting occurred, and since it was a repository for artifacts from recent excavations, many items lacked even hand-written documentation. Thanks to an amnesty program, many of the items were returned voluntarily, and others were found in raids or reported by customs officials and art dealers. But despite all the progress, more than 8,000 items from the Middle East’s earliest historical sites are still missing.

More recently, the war against the Islamic State (IS), or ISIS/ISIL, resulted in the mass destruction of two major UNESCO World Heritage sites, the cites of Nimrud and Hatra. After capturing the cities, IS forces proceeded to bulldoze and otherwise destroy as much of the cities as they could. This was done not merely to remove what they considered heretical idols, but to cover up their extensive looting of antiquities to be sold on the black market.

During a 2015 raid on IS commander Abu Sayyaf in Syria, numerous Iraqi relics were found ready to be sold. Further evidence showed that IS had profited millions of dollars not only from the antiquities trade, but from taxing those pillaging excavation sites. Just how much was lost to looters and the wanton destruction that followed is still being discovered.

If a database like the DLME existed during these times, officials and law enforcement agencies would have had access to accurate documentation of catalogued artifacts to catch looters trying to smuggle out the stolen pieces. Also, museums and governments would be able to confirm ownership on a contested artifact that managed to enter the legitimate art trade. Most importantly, future generations would have a full record of what was lost, even if it couldn’t be recovered.

The DLME’s Value to Research

While the DLME does want to combat the illegal trade of antiquities from the Middle East, its core principal is one of access, research, and outreach to the community about the culture and history of the MENA region. It has already partnered with the Qatar National Library and the Stanford Libraries, as well as other museums and libraries around the world, for inclusion in the DLME’s searchable platform.

The DLME’s prototype is already in use by scholars, allowing for discoveries that would have remained unknown if not for the federation of so many various source institutions. Through the DLME prototype, Jacco Dieleman, an Egyptologist based in Washington, D.C., located two papyri in the University of Pennsylvania’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, one of which had never been published. Thanks to the DLME, this piece of history could now be included in Egyptology research.

As more databases are added to the DLME, the qualitative value of its results will substantially improve the cultural conversations and research about the MENA region.

When Can You Use It?

You may have noticed above that the DLME is currently a prototype, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it. The DLME is able to reference more than 130,000 records from various institutions around the world. These can be searched in a variety of ways, such as by language, location, country of origin, era, type of item, creator, and more. And it won’t be a prototype forever.

In April, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded the CLIR $1.12 million to complete the DLME. When finished, the DLME will be accessible online and through any mobile device. The final version is expected to launch in 2020, though the CLIR and DLF intend it to grow and adapt with changing technologies.

 

In “The Critical Role of Digital Libraries,” Peter Herdrich of the DLME and Antiquities Coalition stated, “Creating inventories, documenting collections, and making digital records accessible are considered best practice for heritage collections and are widely used around the world.” He goes on to say that making the DLME publicly available “help[s] to safeguard a fundamentally important expression of our humanity.”

Ultimately, that is the goal of most digital collections: to share knowledge in order to protect and preserve a part of our past or present civilizations. Through digitization and thorough documentation, we are better able now than ever before to ensure the survival of culturally or historically significant materials, even if the artifacts themselves become lost or destroyed.

If you’d like to start a digital collection of your own, or need a search platform to make an existing digital collection more accessible, contact Anderson Archival by phone at 314.259.1900 or by email at info@andersonarchival.com.

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