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From: heritage62 <>
Subject: Re: [TGF] How to start up a scanning/filming project
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 13:27:04 -0400
References: <54921.11277.qm@web50602.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <54921.11277.qm@web50602.mail.re2.yahoo.com>


Nicole,

Ken Brantley of the Brantley Association is conducting a massive
project digitizing previously unpublished and inaccessible Southampton
Co, Virginia courthouse records. He has a lot of information about it
on his website at
http://www.brantleyassociation.com/pages/southampton_project.htm. He
gave a presentation about the project at the April NGS conference. It
is a one-man project with help from volunteers. He has detailed
information at his site about the whole process and you can contact
him if you have questions.

Barbara


On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 9:01 AM, Nicole La Rue <> wrote:
> Hi all, I'm hoping some of you have some experience that you can help me out with.  Last week I found a set of records at a county courthouse that are currently partially inaccessible and which have never been filmed, abstracted or even indexed.  Considering how valuable they are (they're the full probate packets with things like signatures, receipts going back to the 1830s and petitions that often give family relationships both directly and indirectly) I was really frustrated about it and sent a message over to the county rootsweb list.  Fortunately, the idea caught a spark over there and there were several people willing to start trying to get something done about it.  We even found a local library willing to loan out the use of their digital scanner.
>
> Here's the problem though, I've never been involved in a project like this and I don't know what needs to happen to get this thing done.  The packets run from about 1833 into the 19-teens (it's difficult to know how many more drawers there are because they are blocked in one corner by full metal filing cabinets) so this is not a small project.  We've had a ton of questions and considering I have no idea how to go about this, I need some help.
> -With the number of packets would it be more prudent to break the project down into smaller groups to be tackled over time?
> -What about people to get the packets to the library for scanning and back again?
> -Should/would the packets need to be stored elsewhere temporarily while they are being prepared for scanning? What kind of storage is necessary?
> -The idea of grants came up and one has been found that this project is eligible for but the library doesn't have a grant writer, so is there any way we could try to get some grant money to help with the storage, maybe hiring some students to help out, maybe archival folders, etc.?
> -What about permission/s from the county in order to have these things scanned and preserved?
>
> Can anyone give some advice, suggestions, tell me what I'm missing, etc.?  I'd really really appreciate it.  Now that the full task is looking a bit daunting to those on the list, they're starting to lose their enthusiasm and I'd really like to be able to give them some info and get the ball rolling before I find myself on my own here :)
>
> Thanks all,
> Nikki LaRue
>
>
>
>
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