Our small local-history museum is fortunate to have a local-library
director who is as passionate about local history as we are -- and he is
better funded. He introduced me to a gentleman whose business digitizes
newspapers, books, etc. for libraries and collectors and who the director
would like to have digitize some of our papers. The library has had a
business relationship with him for many years. I saw examples of his work
and was very impressed. He also works with some significant institutions
that have used him for other projects and have contracted with him for
additional work.
    The digital files will be searchable and will be available on the
library's Web site. The library did something similar with a weighty tome
that covers the entire history of our town and it has been a great boon to
researchers and to us/me (fewer demands on my time).
     We have one large volume of a years' worth of a rare 1886 newspaper
that apparently exists nowhere else, including at the state archives. The
first few pages are extremely fragile, but the rest is not too bad. That is
the first collection that will be digitized and I was very relieved when the
digitizer said he doesn't need to unbind the newspapers in order to convert
them. However, he is apparently accustomed to dealing with more recent
newspapers and I gasped when he flipped open the cover of the volume and
started turning pages as though it was yesterday's daily paper. As a
confetti of old paper rained down at his feet, it became apparent to him --
and to me -- that he needed instruction in dealing with very old paper. We
agreed, then, that I would bring the bound volume to him and will offer some
guidance to the photographers, who are also unaccustomed to such old
newspapers.
     I would like, then, to ask the members of this list for additional
advice before I bring the papers to them next week. I will bring cotton
gloves for all of us and I will recite my litany of the things that damage
old paper. I thought of creating some sort of page support (of a couple of
sheets of Mylar taped together with something slim but rigid sandwiched in
the middle?) to slip under each page, to facilitate lifting and turning it.
Can anyone else offer suggestions for what I should ask of them?
    The other broader question arose when I told our historian of what we
are doing and he scowled and replied "No one is going to come into the
museum if you have all this online." I realize that this is an ongoing
debate today, but I am curious as to whether other list members have a sense
of whether extensive Internet resources have a depressing effect on the
number of visitors to their museum -- or whether they encourage attendance.
Lynne

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).