Author Archive
Hard Head, Soft Heart: The Legacy of Chris Crowley
With heavy hearts, we said our final goodbyes this past Friday to the longtime president and co-owner of our company. It became quickly evident over the course of the week between his passing and his funeral, that Christopher William Crowley had made a worldwide impact in the industry he loved. Close to home, with the people he loved even more (and who loved him back), the impact was exponentially larger. There were no shortage of stories. Some were business. Some…
Happy (T)Hanksgiving, Part Six
Aw, just look at our sweet Hank. In November 2013, Cassie Hahn, an 11-year veteran of the Crowley administrative team, brought in her roly-poly English bulldog pup with more wrinkles than a linen suit on a hot day. The short little legs of this irresistible bundle of fur could barely support his king-sized head and the Maryland office immediately fell in love. Hank inspired our very first “Hanksgiving” post and for the sixth year, the tradition continues. Like Hank, Crowley…
Celebrating American Archives
October is officially American Archives month and we’ve been so busy with the day-to-day of digitizing collections, pairing scanners to end-users and attending trade shows that we find the month quickly escaping. So we’re going to stop, take a breath and celebrate just a few of the American archives and their owners and industries that we’ve had the pleasure to work with over the past twelve months. From a First Lady (Typefaces, Animal Rights and the “It” Girl) to Pro…
Celebrating Chip Clark: Digitizing Natural History’s Famed Photographer
Today would have been Chip Clark’s 71st birthday. Born on August 20, 1947, his name will bring a smile to, or ring a bell with, anyone in the world of museum photography. For 37 years, Clark served as a photographer at The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). No matter which world you orbit, the chances are more than good that you’ve seen at least one photo from his vast body of work. Recently, several employees of The…
Celebrating Alastair
Wicks and Wilson Purchasing Manager Retires with 35 Years Alastair Fitzroy Blair has worked for Wicks and Wilson since January 31, 1983. This Friday, on July 27th, he will wrap up 35 years with one company and a total of 47 years in purchasing for industrial firms in the Basingstoke, UK area. His is a story of many which often goes untold; a quiet hero who does his job well, day in and day out, serving with loyalty, for the…
Alexander Hamilton: The Man, The Musical, The Microfilm
This Sunday, the 72nd Annual Tony Awards will recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the past season. Although it’s been two years since “Hamilton: An American Musical” stormed the stage, winning 11 of its 16 nominations, the musical continues to dominate live theatre across the world and bring attention to one of America’s well-known adopted sons and most colorful historic figures, Alexander Hamilton. This gives us the perfect chance to promote interest in the digitization and online accessibility of the Library…
What the FADGI %*#&!? Part Three: Selecting Equipment to Achieve FADGI Compliance
Part One (Understanding Basics) and Part Two (Is FADGI for Everyone?) of our FADGI blog series have laid the groundwork for this final piece of the puzzle – understanding the equipment needs for capturing images that achieve FADGI standards. I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath for Part Three, so here we are at last. To aid in my own understanding, I recruited the expertise of Crowley’s in-house technical guru on all things FADGI, Corin van de Griek. Corin…
What the FADGI %*#&!? Part Two: Is FADGI for Everyone?
Lesson from my parents: Just because it’s cool doesn’t make it right. As a teen, this advice was definitely not well-received. A few decades removed, I can more appreciate the sentiment (and also the fact that it was more likely budget-driven than about taking the moral high road). It might be a bit of a stretch, but FADGI is cool…and it also isn’t (yet) for everyone. Recap: What is FADGI? In Part One of this series, we identified FADGI as a…
What the FADGI %*#&!? (Part One: Understanding Basics)
March Madness may be the talk of the water cooler this week, but we’ve bigger fish to fry in the imaging world (subliminal Lenten reference). One of today’s hottest topics is the evolution of digital imaging standards, which is being prodded into daily conversation by the increasing push to meet FADGI – Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative – compliance. It’s simple. It’s complex. It’s confusing. It’s a work in progress. The good news is that there is increasing recognition – specifically among federal…
Digitizing The Reporter: Archives of Akron’s Only African American Newspaper Online
Each February, Crowley highlights a digitization project that has bearing on Black History Month. Today we feature the newspaper digitization of The Reporter, which has been documenting the African American community in Akron, Ohio since 1969. Past posts discuss an 1841 edition of the Morning Star, a Freewill Baptist publication that advocated for abolition, the digitized records of The Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane and the research of tax assessment and slave records of Cecil County, Maryland. Each project, including…