The Warren County Historical Society is in the midst of a massive process to digitize its vast archives. The two step process involves cataloguing all of the museum’s items — from cannonball shards to wedding bonnets to abolitionist newspapers produced in the 1850s — into a digital database so the entire world will be able to know what materials the museum possesses. The second step is to scan in any paper or reading material so that the originals do not have to be touched, and potentially damaged, This would allow the museum’s reservoir of information can be spread globally.
“We have a tremendous amount of primary sources — original letters deeds, birth and death certificates and things like that,” said Lynley Culpepper, the museum’s head archivist. “These are things where no other copies exist.”
A lot of the “treasures” were brought to light when the museum purchased a second, adjoining building a few years ago, Van Harlingen said. The purchase allowed them to expand their vault space and finally have room to look through many documents stored in their facility.
“Some of it is interesting and very valuable and some is past its use,” said Martha Brandt, a volunteer at the Historical Society who helps catalogue materials. Brandt said she’s seen everything from hat pins to weapons in her volunteer work.
The Warren County Historical Society is far from alone in digitalizing records for greater public use and safe keeping. Dayton History, which operates Dayton-based historic sites including the Paul Laurence Dunbar House and Carillon Park has more than 20,000 images scanned and available for perusal on its website, said Mary Oliver, the museum’s curator. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the museum’s inventory.
“Digitizing is changing historical study and the use (and) viewing of museum collections in so many ways,” Oliver said. “Foremost, when an original photograph, negative or paper object is digitized, the need to handle the original is greatly minimized which offers protection to the original from any damage. Through the ability to place these digitized collections onto our website, we can make them available to a very wide audience that might not otherwise be able to see (or) use them as they might not be likely to visit us in person.”
The Internet is not replacing in-person visits to museum, according to a study conducted by the Institute of Museum and Library Services at the University of North Carolina. The study found that in 2006, Internet access to a museum led to a 75 percent increase in adult visitors to museum over a 13 year period. Internet users were found to be 91 percent more likely to visit a museum than non-internet users.
The Warren County Historical Society is seeking volunteers to help with the scanning and archiving. For more, call (513) 932-1817.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.
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