Digitization of Personal Collections
Who We Serve
Personal Collections
Museums and libraries aren’t the only places to find significant collections in need of digital preservation. Individual collectors can curate substantial personal collections just as valuable as those in any museum. Did your interests lead you to collect historic artifacts, art, scientific journals, or World War II letters, for example? These valued documents represent a deep interest in your history and community. Share that legacy with future generations with digital preservation services that treat your collections with the care they deserve.
Digitize It Right the First Time
For years, Anderson Archival specialized in digitizing collections for private collectors. It’s amazing to turn a personal collection of historical documents, photos, books, and periodicals into a usable, shareable ebook or web-based gallery that won’t suffer the physical limitations or damages of time. Even the most niche collections paint a vivid picture of the originators’ lives and how they’ve shaped the world we know.
Scanning and processing an extensive, lifelong collection can feel daunting when you first start. Even more frustrating is finding out all that work wasn’t done correctly the first time, wasn’t organized in any usable way, or was “preserved” on technology that is, or will soon be, obsolete.
Developing a digitization plan is one benefit of partnering with an archival company when digitizing your personal collection. Once the scope of your collection is identified and the goals for digitization decided, the archival company’s expertise and experience handles the physical scanning, cataloging, organizing, and final digitized format. Anderson Archival has the skills and insight to bring your vision for a sharable, digitally-preserved personal collection to life.
Seek and Find
Whether a digitized document includes full-text read through OCR, or just detailed metadata, searchability is one of the biggest benefits of a digital collection. Instead of flipping pages or combing through boxes, results are just a search term away. For researchers, and for large collections, this is a game changer. Search results put answers at your fingertips.
A Virtual Display Case
While some may want to keep their collections private, if your goals include sharing your unique collection with others, Anderson Archival can build a virtual display case or library to house your digital collection. Whether you have print materials of particular interest or a collection made up of physical objects that you want to share with others, Anderson Archival has the expertise to build a custom website and digital gallery open for anyone to access or only for users you select. Our expert services can add clarity and historical context to unique collections.
Disaster Preparation
A virtual collection provides more than access; digitization offers posterity if flood or fire should damage your collection, it can continue to exist digitally, where you’ll be able to access the documents from any location. It also ensures that you will have a well-documented record of your items for the insurance company in case of damage or theft of the original. Let us help you bring your collection to the best of its potential!
