Category: Digital Projects

FJC/Polonsky grant remaining funds

Three projects have been approved from the remaining funds from the FJC/Polonsky grant.  These have been previously discussed by the Digital Library Committee, and include:

  • Fannie Aaron papers
    • Open questions: transcription? item-level metadata? Number of items?
  • Susan B. Anthony Papers
    • Open questions: additional transcription? items in other collections? contribute to a broader project?
  • Jasper Parrish papers
    • Open questions: transcription? Number of items? contribute to HRVH?

 

Matthew Vassar Papers

Introduction

The Matthew Vassar Papers project consists of autobiographies, autographs, correspondence, diaries, maps, and photographs related to the founder of Vassar College.

Finding aid available at: http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/findingaids/vassar_matthew.html

This project will be funded by the Goodman grant.

Scope

We propose to digitize Series 1 (Materials concerning Vassar College), with more series as time / funding permits.

Items

There are 225 listed items in Series 1.  A conservative estimate suggests 338 items.

Estimates and assumptions:

Assumptions:

  • Each item contains one page (most likely erroneous)
  • Each item must have recto/verso imaged, including envelopes

Estimate:

338 items x 2 (recto/verso) = 676 images

Archival images most likely 40MB each, service copies at 30MB each.

Storage requirements (based on imaging specs, below)

338 TIFFs @ 40MB = 13,520 MB = ~ 13GB

338 TIFFs @ 30MB = 10,140 MB = ~ 10GB

Imaging specs

All imaging is for paper; a mix of flatbed scanning and copystand will be used.  Special handling required in consultation with Special Collections and Archives.

  • Archival scans at 400ppi, 24 bit color, TIFF
  • Service copies at 400ppi, 8 bit color, 4000px on largest dimension, TIFF
  • JPG copies not needed

Naming convention

Files will follow the standard practice:

project-prefix_box_folder_item_page

where folder, item, and page will be left string-padded to three places.

Project prefix: mvp (for “Matthew Vassar Papers”)

N.B.: the finding aid has some folders ending with the letter “A”.  In these cases, we will treat the “A” folder as a second item.

Examples:

  1. Folder 2.16 to James Grant Wilson, 27 Jun 1861 (1 letter)
    mvp_002_016_001_001a.tif — archival
    mvp_002_016_001_001.tif — service
  2. Folder 14.467A Matthew Vassar, Co.: Correspondence: Vassar to Dear Sir, 19 Nov 1838 (1 letter)
    mvp_014_467_002_001a.tif — archival
    mvp_014_467_002_001.tif — service
  3. Folder 6.186 from Carrie F. Stowe, 3 Jun 1862 (1 letter and photograph)
    mvp_006_186_001_001a.tif — letter, archival
    mvp_006_186_001_001.tif — letter, archival
    mvp_006_186_001_002a.tif — photograph, archival
    mvp_006_186_001_002.tif — photograph, archival

Metadata considerations

  1. Names should be cross-referenced with LC’s authority file for named creators and correspondents, etc.
  2. Standard MODS profile: title, date, identifier, creator, correspondent, rights management.

Other considerations:

  1. Some folders have photocopies or duplicates of items in other boxes.  Should we image these as well?  E.g., Folder 5.148 to Rev. Charles A. Raymond, typescripts of letters in folders 129-147, 30 Jul 1862 – 3 Apr 1864.
  2. We need accurate counts of items for better storage estimates.

Memorial Minutes

Background

Michael McCarthy approached the Archives & Special Collections Library about digitizing the Memorial Minutes read at faculty meetings.  He has some recent ones available at http://aevc.webs.com, dating back to 1990, but would like a more robust list.  Michael was referred to us for this digitization.

The Archives & Special Collections Library contains three volumes of Memorial Minutes:

  • Volume 1, 1877-1942
  • Volume 2, 1943-1960
  • Volume 3, 1960-1978

There is a gap from 1978-1989 which need to be pulled from the faculty minutes in Archives & Special Collections.  The digital library has already completed this digitization.

Digitization consists of approximately 90-100 pages per volume.  The volumes cannot be digitized as one book but will need to be digitized on a person-by-person (memorial-by-memorial) basis.  Each volume also contains an archival folder with the same contents except for Volume 3, whose folder contains overlapping but unequal content.

File creation

  • Goal is a one-to-one correspondence between person and minute (and, in the case of multiple minutes submitted per person, one-to-many).  Thus this project is inherently slow.
  • No metadata exists.
  • Items must be hand-scanned.

File naming scheme:

aevc_last_XXX_YYY

Where:

  • aevc = project code (memorial minutes is too long)
  • last = last name of person.  When same last names exist, use lastname-firstinitial.
  • XXX = zero-left string-padded number indicating which memorial minute per person is being scanned.
  • YYY = zero-left string-padded number indicating the page sequence per memorial minute per person.