Driving Lessons

Here is a pdf of the presentation that Nicole Garrett gave at the Michigan Archival Association Meeting in June of 2008 and Lucy Barber of NHPRC gave at the Society of American Archivists Meeting in August 2008.

Driving Lessons

GSI Tour

A few months ago, the project archivist visited Graphic Sciences in Royal Oak, Michigan.  Graphic Sciences is the vendor scanning the oversize muster rolls.

Because of the fragility of the documents, each page must be handled by a person (i.e., not fed through a machine).  This is very labor intensive, but necessary.   The documents are being scanned to both a digital image and microfilm.

All of the documents have now been scanned (approximately 50,000 images).  The CDs containing the images should be arriving at the archives later this week or early next week.

Sample Muster Roll on Scanning Table

Exposure Meter on Microfilm Scanner

Scanner Head on Microfilm Scanner

Scanning Oversize Documents

All Michigan Service Records Digitized

All of the Michigan Civil War Service Records are now digitized and uploaded onto our CONTENTdm server.  The larger Muster Records are still at the vendor, but will begin putting these online within the next few weeks.

A new version of the EAD guide has been sent to DLPS to upload on the server.  This guide includes links to all the Regimental Service Records.  This will hopefully be up and running next week.

The next few weeks will be spent preparing for the Michigan Archival Association Conference June 12-13 in Mackinac City.

Publishing Civil War Records Online

SCANNING

The student intern has begun scanning the service records. All of the Michigan Infantry Units have been scanned and uploaded onto CONTENTdm. He is starting with the cavalry. These will be linked to the guide within the next few weeks.
WEBSITE

The repair worked mentioned in the April 12 update has been completed on the website. Additionally, new pages have been added concerning how to use the Regimental Service Records.

NEWS

Last week, the project archivist attended the Midwest Archival Conference Annual Meeting. Many of the sessions were very pertinent to the project, as they dealt with digitization with minimal metadata.

TO DO

Next week, the project archivist will visit the vendor to see the process of scanning the oversize muster records. Also, we will have an update on the progress at that time.

A draft of the project archivist’s presentation will be done by May 1.

We are also researching Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) in CONTENTdm. It seems most institutions use the Library of Congress Thesaurus of Graphical Materials rather than LCSH.

Michigan Civil War Records Project Update

Although our project began in June, we have decided to start posting weekly status updates. Hopefully this will keep everyone better informed of our progress.

Staff includes:

Nicole Garrett: Project Archivist

Mary Zimmeth: Project Coordinator

Mark Harvey: Project Leader

SCANNING

Out of the 37 boxes of service records, 23 have been scanned. These are being scanned in house by the project archivist. A student volunteer will begin helping with the digitization process next week. This will allow the project archivist more time to dedicate to other parts of the grant.

UPLOADING

We are using CONTENTdm as our content management software. The Archives has an unlimited license for uploading objects, so this was the simplest solution.

The files are being uploaded as they are scanned. Access to the digital images for the collection can be found here. More are being added daily.

The Muster Records are being scanned by an outside vendor, as they are oversize and cannot fit on our equipment. The vendor is about halfway through scanning, so hopefully those will be done and returned soon.

EAD GUIDE

The EAD guide is for the collection is complete and online. However, linking the digitized images is still a work in progress. We are hoping to have all the service records digitized and linked into the guide by the beginning of May. To view the guide, click here.

WEBSITE

The Archives Digital Collection website has a few broken links that will be repaired this week. In the upcoming months, this site will undergo a complete redesign. To view the Archives Digital Collection, click here.

TO DO

In June, the project archivist will be speaking at the Michigan Archival Association Conference in Mackinac City, Michigan. Preparation for the presentation will begin soon.

We will also begin researching survey techniques to begin the follow-up portion of the project.
After the service records are linked into the guide, staff will begin reviewing the collection and comment on what they like and dislike. When the project is complete, user groups will be asked
similar questions.

We are also trying to export file information from Adobe Photoshop into CONTENTdm to avoid rekeying all the metadata. Hopefully we will find a way to do this easily and efficiently.