Blog
Preparing for the Unimaginable: Emergency Planning for Libraries, Museums, and Archives
With the recent containment of the LA wildfires, now begins the challenging process of assessing the damage and restoring what once was. Unfortunately, many historical sites, libraries, archives, and museums in Southern California have been severely impacted, with countless artifacts lost and buildings destroyed or damaged. Sadly, this is a reality that many communities across the country continue to face, as natural disasters—whether wildfires, hurricanes, floods, or other incidents—threaten lives, homes, and irreplaceable cultural heritage. In times like these, communities…
Honoring A Legacy: Celebrating 50 Years of Mekel Technology
You might expect a company in the business of preservation to have an extensive archive of its own history. Surprisingly, that’s not always the case. As Mekel Technology, a Crowley Company, (also known as Mekel Engineering until 1999) celebrates its 50th anniversary, we find ourselves reflecting on a remarkable journey that began with a small team of visionaries and on the importance of preserving the history that brought us together. From its modest beginnings in a garage to becoming leaders…
Preserving Voices: Digitizing Howard University’s Historic Black Newspaper Collection
In a landmark move that bridges the past and present, Howard University, through its Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) and in collaboration with Howard’s Center for Journalism and Democracy, has embarked on an ambitious project to digitize its historic Black newspaper collection. This effort, powered by a significant partnership with The Crowley Company (Crowley), represents a monumental stride towards making thousands of Black publications accessible in a global digital repository. It’s a project that not only promises to unlock the vast narratives…
Mount Vernon’s Digital Decade:
10 Years of Scanning Projects with The Crowley Company
Nearly 10 years after The Crowley Company’s (Crowley) original blog on digitizing collections with George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the two institutions continue to share the legacy of George and Martha through digital preservation. Since then, Crowley has assisted in six Mount Vernon scanning projects (producing over 20,000+ digital images). While the materials have changed and the technology has advanced, the process and partnership have remained constant. In honor of the first ever State of the Union address (given by George…
Innovating Tradition: Belmont University’s Special Collections Digitization
Belmont University Scans School and Alumni History using the Zeutschel OS C Book Scanner Established in 1890 in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee, Belmont University began providing women with not just an education but a platform for cultural, intellectual and social development. In doing so, the university set what would become its legacy for innovation and embracing change. The university’s latest step towards technological innovation — the purchase of a Zeutschel OS C overhead book scanner — both advances the…
A Very “OK” Newspaper
Scanning Project
Oklahoma Historical Society Makes Historic Microfilmed Newspapers Accessible Online In the heartland of America, where rugged landscapes meet resilient people, the diverse stories of Oklahoma are now made accessible through digital newspapers. The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is taking enthusiastic steps to digitize over 4,000 newspaper titles which have been distributed in the Sooner State as far back as the 1840s (well before Oklahoma became an official state). Sarah Biller, the OHS Newspaper Department Supervisor gave The Crowley Company some…
A Call from the Past: Embracing the History and Future of Aperture Card Scanners
It all started when I received a voice message from Walter (Walt) Spicer, a former records management professional from Napa, California. In his short (but informative) message, he told me the story of his patent for a machine which created aperture cards and asked if The Crowley Company (Crowley) could send an aperture card as a memento of his life’s work to pass along to future generations. This interaction sparked the realization that the motivation of Walt’s request paralleled the…
Overhead Scanners are Irreplaceable for Document Digitization
The following blog was originally posted by Zeutschel GmbH and is reposted with permission. Scanning services providers are currently facing major challenges. More and more projects require the parallel processing of difficult and mixed documents. In addition, there is a clear trend towards the digitization of bound documents. Dokumenten- und Datenservice Wandel GmbH (DD Wandel) shows how these tasks can be successfully mastered with the use of overhead scanners. As part of national cultural funding programs, many municipal archives have…
Meet Kitty Lamberger, Digitization Road Warrior
Crowley’s Onsite Scanning Services Enhance Client Comfort While Providing Valuable Life Experience If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that this blog typically features individuals who are of historic importance and/or tied to a specific archival collection. In today’s post, we take a short departure (departure being the key word!) to introduce Kitty Lamberger, a vital member of The Crowley Company’s Digitization Services’ onsite scanning team. Kitty has traveled the U.S. from coast to coast, leaving friends and family for…
Savoy Archive: Leading the Digitization Pack with the Zeutschel OS Q0
The following blog, authored by Marquet Nuria at the Département Savoie, is reposted with permission. The Département Savoie (Savoy) is located in Chambéry, France and employs the Zeutschel OS Q0 cultural heritage scanner in their archival digitization process. The Savoy was one of the first archives in the world to utilize the high quality overhead system. The OS Q series is the next generation of Zeutschel scan system and is an excellent replacement for older generations of large format book…