Genealogists soon find themselves overwhelmed by paper: records, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, and more. Learn a digitization strategy that will preserve for future generations these precious documents you’ve worked so hard to collect. Explore this digitization strategy through two case studies: a personal collection and a larger multi-year project implemented by a genealogical society.
Duration: 60 minutes
Handouts/Downloads
- PDF of the presentation slides – Download Now
- PDF of the presentation outline – Download Now
Digitization Strategy
- Create an Inventory
- Initial information may be minimal
- You will add information about each document throughout the life of the project
- Protect & preserve the documents
- Use archival quality sleeves, folders, paper & Boxes
- Store materials in a safe location
- National Archives – Storing Family Papers and Photographs
- Begin to look for missing materials
- Develop a long-range plan for your vision
- Review & Revise periodically
- Develop a digitization plan
- Do it yourself
- Where will you store the images?
- Develop and implement a good backup plan
- Create a file structure
- Establish a file naming convention
- Formalize metadata plans
- XnView MP: https://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/
- Determine digitization standards
- Portal to Texas History
- Need access to suitable scanning device
- Pay a commercial scanning service
- Find an archive to do it for you
- FamilySearch – https://www.familysearch.org/en/
- Books
- ArchiveGrid – https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/
- Portal to Texas History – https://texashistory.unt.edu/
- Allen County Public Library – https://acpl.lib.in.us/donations
- FamilySearch – https://www.familysearch.org/en/
- Do it yourself
- Publish online
- On an archive server
- On your own website
- See “How to Create a Personal Website for Free”
Case Studies
- My Fathers Letters
- Dallas Genealogical Society Publications – dallasgenealogy.org
- Cloud Publishing Process
- Publish information about the publication
- Index the publication
- Digitize the publication
- Link images to the indexes
- Reimagine & Reuse the images
- Cloud Publishing Process