Archive for the ‘Digitization Services’ Category
Forever Young: Preserving Oak Hill Cemetery Lot and Stereoscopic Cards through Digitization
Cemeteries have so much more to offer than just an eternal resting place. They provide insight into history, reveal family ties long forgotten, remind us of the importance of “the dash” and inspire future stories. The purpose of a cemetery begins long before death and continues long after. Within the iron gates of Oak Hill Cemetery (OHC) in the nation’s capital, this purpose is being furthered with the digitization of 170 years of history documented on paper, on cards, in…
Endless Love: Digitizing the Herbst Love Letters
A Tale of Preservation and Family in Honor of National Grandparent’s Day. The letters of Gene and Margaret (Maggie) Herbst have traveled far and wide in the name of love. Through 250 handwritten letters, the couple shared tales of their adolescence, war, happiness and longing. In more recent years, the letters have helped their grandson Eric form a relationship with the grandfather he never met. In celebration of National Grandparent’s Day, The Crowley Company is sharing the story of the cherished…
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…
Digital Touchdown! Digitizing the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Microform Archive
This week marks the beginning of the National Football League’s 99th season. With preseason kicking off Thursday night in Canton, OH and the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame (HOF) Enshrinement Ceremony on Saturday, it’s just about the most wonderful time of year for football fans! To celebrate, we’re taking a look at a different kind of special team, The Crowley Company and the HOF, and the partnership that made the digitization of 1.1 million microfilm and microfiche football records a reality….
Raiders of the (Not So Lost) “Ark”ives: Digitizing Religious Archives
As I was preparing for Crowley’s appearance at this week’s annual American Theological Library Association Conference (ATLA), I realized that everything I know about religious archives comes from Indiana Jones’ movies and Dan Brown novels. It’s not a fact I’m proud of since religious entities have been a prominent market for Crowley (and as the daughter of a pastor and a church secretary, I’m no stranger to the goings on of the church) but my perception of their archives mostly…
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…
The Marine and the Microfiche: Preserving 20 Years of Service
After one conversation with retired United States Marine Corps (USMC) Gunnery Sergeant Joseph Wilk, it was evident that his time in the military was filled with valuable life lessons and experiences. These experiences will be passed down for generations through his impressive storytelling skills (to which I bear witness), but also through the preservation of his military records from microfiche. This Veteran’s Day we take the time to shine a light on Wilk’s service and the journey to digitize his…
National Parks Preservation (the Digital Version)
October is American Archives Month, a celebration of America’s history and the archivists, organizations and physical buildings that keep them safe and available to the world at large. Each week this month we’ll highlight a facet of how The Crowley Company partners with archivists and historians to help preserve and share American archives. Last March my husband and I ran away. We flew into Miami, I sweet-talked (badgered?) him into renting a convertible and we followed the sunshine over some of America’s most stunning waterways,…