Oral Histories

            Oral histories are among my most favorite type of collection.  I’m fortunate because there are tapes at each of the institutions where I work so I’ve gotten to do a lot.  Some are really fascinating while others are just ok. A lot depends on the interviewer.  When I do transcripts, I make a verbatim transcript so as you read it you have a feel for how the person speaks.  Verbatim transcripts can be tedious to do because often the quality of the tape is poor, or people mumble or talk over each other.  It can be challenging.  I should have studied court stenography.  That would help, except then I think you have to transcribe the shorthand notes – twice the work.  Guess my way is best.

          The first step in doing an oral history is to make a copy of the original.  You’ll use the copy to do the transcript so you don’t risk damaging the original.  If you have an old audiotape there are still machines around that can make copies of tapes.  Of course, then you have to have an old tape recorder in order to listen to it.  The other alternative is to digitize them to CDs.  I have done both.  Once you have a copy you’re ready to go.  One of the librarians I work with suggested an application called the Amazing Slow Downer (http://amazing-slow-downer.en.softonic.com/).  It’s also available on ITunes.  This app was designed for music, but works great for CDs of oral histories.  You can adjust the speed of the speech as well as the bass and treble tones.  All of that can help with the transcription.  You can try this app for free. To buy it, I believe, is around fifty dollars.  I did fine with just the trial.

            Have fun with oral histories. There’s no telling what you will learn about the past. 

Preserving paper - more information

          Photographs can be preserved by keeping them in cool, dry place out of light. Don’t forget to label them appropriately.  Now what about paper? How do you keep your important papers whether they are personal papers or those in an archive? Well, what matters most is the type of paper that you have.  If you are a big newspaper clipper, expect anything you save made of newsprint will turn yellow and brittle in a pretty short amount of time. Why?  Well newsprint is an example of cheaply made paper made from wood pulp. Wood has lignin, which is an acid.  It is this acid in newsprint that causes the deterioration.  On the other end of the spectrum is bond paper.  Bond paper is made from cotton rags, which do not have acid.  They will last 100 years if kept out of the sun and in a cool and dry place next to other non-acidic papers.  That's why colleges have historically demanded that masters theses and dissertations be printed on bond paper because they want the material to last as long as possible.  Other materials like archival non-acidic file folders or other non-acidic products have had the acid (lignin usually removed) to extend their shelf life.  They can help reduce the migration of acid from acidic paper to non-acidic material.  Did I mention that acid will move from one piece of paper and chemically alter material next to it? Test this by putting a news clipping on a piece of paper and leave it in direct sunlight for several weeks.  When you lift the news clipping a brownish stain (acid) will be left on the paper underneath.

            So what can you do to preserve your material?  Not much if it is newsprint.  Archives microfilm their newspapers.  Microfilm is stable and will last for about 100 years.  The other recourse is to copy the article onto bond paper and throw the clipping away.  If you must save the clipping use acid free paper or other archival material between the clipping and other papers.  The clipping will still deteriorate but you will protect the surrounding papers at least a little. The other way to protect paper is to reduce human handling.  Some archives require white clean gloves be used when handling paper. I find I do more harm than good with gloves. Do wash your hands. No drinks or food around paper material you want to preserve.  No rubber bands to bundle paper together.  Rubber bands deteriorate, turn black and may stick permanently to the paper.  Metal paper clips and staples will rust over time if there is moisture in the air.  Use plastic paper clips.  You can keep paper together by folding a blank piece around the group you were going to staple.  Or go ahead and staple if you must just know that it may rust over time.  Other considerations – Store paper in archival boxes  or in metal filing cabinets.  Never store paper products in wooden containers – acidic, remember? Archives use special non-acidic shelving for their collections.  Coating on that shelving does matter.  Baked coating is recommended.  For archives that have wooden shelving and can’t afford to replace it, a cheap reasonably effective solution is to line the shelves with archival board (a non-acidic cardboard only available from archival supply houses).

            The newest solution to preservation is, of course, digitization.  It works, but we’re just not sure for how long.  I have files in Excel, for instance, that can only be read using old Excel software.  The newer versions don’t support the older ones. You must keep upgrading your files to stay current and I wasn't quick enough. (Of course, there are "how to upgrade" these files on line. I should do that but haven't.)  For now saving as pdfs or in Word are the best options for long-term usefulness.  For photographs JPEG and TIFF have stayed readable so far. 

For more information on paper preservation see:

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/publications/conserveogram/19-15.pdf - Great resource!

Information on archival shelving

http://www.archives.gov/foia/directives/nara1571.pdf   “Use a powder-coating system to paint all painted metal shelving surfaces (including map cases, museum cabinets, etc.) used within all records areas. The powder-coating polymer must be a polyester epoxy hybrid or best equivalent available that passes NWT- conducted or independent lab tests for hardness, coating stability, bending, coating adhesion, and coating durability. The paint must not exceed the off-gassing limits specified in Appendix B. Do not apply powder coating to the metal surfaces onsite in the storage area.”

Not Everything Should be Scanned, Part II

                        Prioritizing what to scan is key to having a digital archive that is accessible and worthwhile from a research prospective.  Sometimes that can be hard.  There are some rules that dictate what can or cannot be made accessible to the public.  Those rules, actually laws, apply to physical papers as well as digital material.  Specifically the laws that cover accessibility are privacy and copyright.  Some donors request that their material not be made available until after their death.  Lyndon Johnson’s papers were not available for study until after Lady Bird died, for example.  Privacy laws also govern accessibility of some material such as school records, medical histories, employee records.  Copyright laws apply to a wide range of materials including PhD dissertations, Master’s theses.  Some of this material can be scanned and kept in a dark archives.  Access is restricted and managed by the archive.  Some material is only accessible at the archival facility even if it has been digitized.  Each institution has to address the privacy and copyright issues for every collection and each institution develops its own rules.  Lawyers need to be consulted when a policy is being developed.

                        Copyright and privacy concerns are the main considerations in what to scan and what not to scan, but there are other issues.  One question to ask is whether the material is already on line in another website.  That is true for some of the collections in the institutions where I have worked.  One library has stereo cards, a 19^th century invention of two images on a card that create a 3D picture when viewed through a stereoscope.  Apparently the cards were part of the library material available to patrons at the turn of the century.  When the librarian in charge of the digitization project determined that the cards were already on line, the decision was made not to scan them.  Another institution made a different decision for their material some of which was on line already and is also copyrighted.  They decided to scan as a preservation mechanism, but have not as yet posted the images on the website.  My vote would be not to duplicate what is already at another website and not to take a chance posting copyright material.  Use the storage space for something original and avoid copyright questions and repetition.  

Digitizing Collections - Not Everything Should be Scanned - Part 1

            Remember we talked about weeding through your materials before you donate papers to an archive. Not everything should be saved. [See blog post  “Donating Aunt Matilda’s Papers”]  The same is true for digitizing collections. Not everything in a collection should be scanned.  Before an archive starts on a scanning project the goals of the digitization should be clear.  Is it to be simply an exhibition of the illustrative material in the collections?  Should it be an advertisement for the archive to draw people in, a digital billboard if you will?  Or is it to be a research destination for users?  Or lastly is it simply a preservation strategy? Or all four? What priority should each of these goals have?

             For me a digital archive should be like a physical archive, a destination for all types of researchers - academicians, students, or the general public.  In other words, accessibility should be the number one priority for any archive.   Focus should be on the information in the papers in the collections, not just the pretty visual material.  When information sharing is the priority, the most important document about a collection becomes the finding aid.  This tool should be front and center for the digital archive.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a finding aid provides a short description of a collection, a short biography of the creator or compiler of the collection, and often an explanation of the historical context for the material.  As part of the development of the finding aid, the collection is organized into series such as maps, correspondence, photographs – categories initially established by the creator of the collection that can help direct the researcher.  Also as part of the processing of the collection, an inventory, to either series or file level, is included in the finding aid.  [Archives used to inventory to item level and still often do with photographs and maps, but the sheer volume of material has made item level inventory impossible for most collections.]  Sometimes in digital archives, the information from the finding aid is divided and can be accessed through clicking buttons labeled, for example, collections sketch, scope and content, and inventory (See wtda.alc.org).  Even if the collection is not to be scanned for some time, the information in the finding aid should be available on line.  Once a researcher knows what is available, they can decide whether to come to the archives or request a scan of the material.  The archive wins because their collections are accessible even before scanning and the researcher wins because his accessibility is multiplied.

           You archivists out there need to make sure that the librarians with whom you are working understand the value and importance of the finding aid.  I suggest explaining it as a detailed and expanded catalog record.  The catalog record helps you find a book or resource; the finding aid does the same thing for paper material only in more detail.

           More next time on what to consider not scanning in an archival collection or a personal one.

Preserving the photographic record

        The Library of Congress and the National Archives among other organizations have great information on line about the preservation of photographs both digital and physical.  I’m going to add my two cents, but I urge you to check out the web pages listed below.  They will provide answers to all of your questions.

        Success in preserving photographs depends on two factors: (1) the stability of the original materials used – the film, processing, and print paper – and (2) storage conditions.  Black and white negatives and photographs are very stable and will last a long time, over a hundred years if cared for properly. Color slides are also very stable (10-50 years).  Newer color images using 1990s processing and films are more stable then they were in the past, but still will fade over time.  The best book on the preservation of photographs is by Henry Wilhelm and Carol Brower and is entitled The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs.  A free pdf of the book is available at http://wilhelm-research.com/book_toc.html.  Check it out.  They tested color films and processing and discuss the preservation problems of primarily color photographs.

        Most black and white photographs will be in better condition than any of your older color ones regardless of the care you have given them.  Most of the processes, film and papers used particularly in the fifties, sixties, and seventies for color photographs, were inherently unstable.  Pictures have yellow staining or purplish (magenta tones), and some are blue.  None of this fading and discoloration is your fault.  Blame it on Kodak Ektachrome film and RC (non-fiber papers).  Professional photographs taken during the period are often the most deteriorated.  It wasn’t the photographer’s fault.  It was the products he or she used.  There’s not much that you can do.  My recommendation is to scan the pictures you like and if you want to balance the color use Photoshop software.

          Generally photographs should be kept in the dark, in cool, dry places.  Placing the material (negatives, slides, or prints) in inert sleeves will protect them from improper handling and will keep them from sticking together if there is any moisture between them.  At Texas Tech we used refrigeration units (fancy refreigerators and freezers) set below freezing to preserve slides and negatives.  Before using any we would slowly allow the material to warm to room temperature over several hours.  With the advent of scanning technology favorite negatives and slides can be digitized to provide another avenue of preservation.  I wouldn’t throw away the original because the longevity of digital materials as we said before is so dependent on rapidly changing technology so who knows how long that photograph will be accessible. If you want to display a photograph, make a copy and keep the original in proper storage.  Photographs should be matted using acid-free mat board.  Never should a photograph directly touch glass.  If there is any moisture, it could stick.  UV filtered glass is best.  Costs a little more though.  Display the photograph away from direct sunlight and ideally rest it every so often by not displaying it for awhile.

        Don’t forget to label your material.  For photographs, as I said, use either graphite pencil, a No.2 pencil, or a special India ink pen.  Be careful ink and the graphite pencil can smudge especially on RC paper prints.  Slides can be labeled on the slide cover.  Negatives can be marked with the India ink marking pen on the chemically inert sleeves. Some museums will not mark directly on the back of the picture, but instead label the sleeve or housing folder.  A label insures that your descendents know about the people in the photograph. 

There are lots and lots of web pages about photographs.  Here are a few. 

http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/photo.html

http://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/photographs.html

http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/captioning-photos.html (labeling photographs. Says what I said only better)

http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/digitizing-photos.html

http://wilhelm-research.com/book_toc.html

http://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/5.-photographs/5.4-creating-long-lasting-inkjet-prints

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/hes/fcs/factshts/HHF-LRA-141.pdf

More on labeling photographs

                       Last time I talked about labeling digital photographs.  What about prints, digital or otherwise?  For personal photographs labeling is pretty straight-forward.   As I said in a previous blog post, you can write on the back using a graphite pencil or No. 2 pencil (There are also pens using India ink that can be bought from the archival supply companies like Gaylord.) Like digital photographs you need to write identifying information for your print - place, people, date.  Write in a corner and not across the whole back.  You will want to minimize any action that could damage a print.  For librarians this means no glued on labels.  The ones used in libraries are usually acidic. Pencil only as I said or place the photograph in a sleeve and put your label on that.  Gaylord and other archival supply houses does have acid-free labels, which may be ok - maybe.

                        The technique for labeling is simple, but what identification should be used to label a collection in an institutional setting like a library, archives or museum?  Most entities have a system for accessioning collections and so that’s the initial number.  Usually that accession number begins with the year the collection was received (e.g. 2014) followed by a number indicating the order in which it was accessioned (2014.01 or 2014.02 – first and second collection received that year).  If a finding aid is done and a series indicated then that series becomes the next number (2014.01.01). The last .01 would probably be the series that may be entitled photographs if it is collection of different types of items. The next number is a number assigned to the photograph or the number of a sub-series or file.  So you have year, collection number, series number, sub-series, such as family, followed last by a photograph number.  This number is listed in the inventory or metadata if it’s digital along with a photograph title, date if known, place taken, people, and any other pertinent information about the photograph.  If you only know “Man on horse” then that’s all you know.  Adding a few more descriptors about the photograph to distinguish it from other men on horses would help.  The more information that you have, of course, the more valuable the photograph is for research purposes.  I can’t emphasize enough the importance of keeping the link intact between a digital image, a printed one, and the inventory especially if your photographs may be used for publication, research, or exhibition.

                        Another labeling scheme I have used when no accessioning system exists is to use the collection name or initials.   For example, WW followed by series number, file and item number.  Any other tracking device, like bar codes, work well too.  Just remember the goal is to maintain the link between the print or negative and the information about it.  Tedious task but worth it in the end.

Digital photographs - labeling and preserving

         Hope everyone had wonderful holidays and stayed warm. Did you make lots of archival memories?  Now is the time to organize and preserve them.  With the advent of digital photography, especially with it now available on phones, people are taking more and more photographs.  Digital photographs are great in a lot of ways, but to preserve them for the future can be a headache.  The problem, of course, is the rapid changing technology that impacts accessibility. In the digital archival program in which I am involved we save our photographs in TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format.  That’s pretty much the industry standard because it is supported by most graphic related applications.  Also importantly TIFF has less loss in terms of image quality compared to JPEG (named for the Joint Photographic Expert Group).  The downside is the large size of files.  For my personal use, I save my photographs as JPEGs just because of file size.  If I were a professional photographer I would save my files as TIFFs.  Current thought is that TIFF files will be supported the longest by software applications.  We’ll see. 

        One thing I would suggest is specific labeling.  In my digital archives, we have extensive metadata templates for our collections because some will be downloaded and used for research.  For the individual, simple labeling to provide easy identification of the photograph is probably adequate.  Since you don’t have the back of a photograph to label, you will need to incorporate that information into the picture title. The software dates the photograph or at least when the photograph was downloaded so that takes care of that.  Most programs let you add a specific date if you want.  Location where the image was taken, people, or a title for the photograph is really necessary.  How else are you going to identify the one picture you want from the 10,000 you took of family this holiday season? Most software programs let you organize your photographs by groups and so forth.  Do it!  Otherwise you are going to end up with the equivalent of box of unidentified photographs.  Pretty worthless for memories and for preservation.  Oh yes, and delete those photographs that are out of focus, cut people’s heads off, or are duplicates.  Believe me deleting bad photographs is ok, really it is.  Your descendents and any archivist will thank you.

         Oh yes, make back-ups of your favorites- on the cloud, external hard drives - and keep your photos updated so they can be read by whatever is current in software applications. Most important! That means watching for software updates.  Estimates are that updates to saved images may need to be made every 3-5 years.

Next time - comments on the preservation and labeling of prints both digital and otherwise and negatives and slides.

Other resources

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/photos.html

http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/5-tips-preserving-your-digital-photos   

        

http://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/5.-photographs/5.4-creating-long-lasting-inkjet-prints