Colrain Archives- Procedures

 Large sheets such as news clippings etc are numbered on FRONT in upper left or lower tight. Number in pencil, dark, large. (at least 1/4" ifd space is avail.) OK to use ultrafine Sharpie if the paper is very dark, and not valuable. Valuable items like an old photo, a limited edition print, number on VERSO. Upper left

 After a scanning session, we make a filenames printout to use as a checklist to be sure that we have scanned all items in the box we scanned . Scanning Session File list The first 7 lines are file folders of multi-page "items".  1452, for example, is a set of photos of the Smith bridge being moved.  Using folders for multi-page is tidier, which minimizes mistakes.  We add a brief descriptive word to the folder name. The single page items, such as 1345 are scanned front and back so that we retain the item number which is often written on the back of an item.  Also, by scanning verso, we avoid having to research "is there anything written on the back". ============================================================= Airtable Entry of New Items These new scans are added to Airtable before we move the files to the Backup drive. This is the time we sometimes find duplicate item numbers, in which case we would have to assign a new number to an item and re-scan it. =====...

  Scanning Equipment used for the CHS Collections Scanning is done at the "Old Maps" office in Greenfield where there are 5 different scanners hooked to a network with several computers. Items scanned can vary in form (books, medallions, paper) and size (a 2" business card, large genealogy chart) , so different scanners are used).  Before each item is scanned we make sure it has its Item Number written on it, and do any quick repairs needed (old paper especially). Items are named immediately(eg 1402_1 , 2)  so each image, front and back, is numbered. We also check the database to be sure there is not a duplicate number (to err is human). After a scanning session we make a printout of all scans done that day and use that as a checklist to be sure we got everything, and to record the backups. After each scanning session the images are uploaded to the Airtable database so we can keep track of what's been done. ========================================== 1)  Brother 8...

 NO to: Do not accept digital photos , except in rare cases.  Exception would be well-documented photo scanned both sides, accompanied by info on material and size of the original &thorough provenance info.  Example 1:  A picture sent from California such as: "This photo is of my great-grandparents William and Sarah Crozier who lived on xxxx Road in Colrain in the 1880s. It is on the living room wall of my house in San Bernardino.  It came to me via my mother ________  who moved to California in the 1960s, after she left Colrain.  The photo is on a wooden frame 8" x 12".  Pictures of both sides are enclosed" ...  email from Bob Smith, August, 2024 In this example we would accept the scan, and make a scan of the email/letter with this provenance info. Example 2:     A well-documented photo found on line such as the Jones Library's high-res scan of the 1891 Colrain Village photo Do not accept an internet research printout ...

 At present, March 2024, we are still finding and numbering quite a few "old" CHS documents and artifacts which do not have numbers written on them (or have not been cataloged at all) so we are still using the 4-digit numbering system we set up in 2023.  In time, we should adopt the normal museum numbering system using "Year-Number" (eg 24.0100). Sarah' Number Ledger Sarah has a small handwritten ledger with 1-2 lines per item, in (mostly) numerical order.  For example, last week we found a 1935 Arms Academy Yearbook which was not cataloged. So that book gets the next number, 2490.  The number is written in pencil in upper left corner of the inner cover, and also entered into Airtable with the book's description and photo(s). Sarah also records any number adjustments, such as re-numering duplicates, in the Number Book.  This book stays with Sarah, so that she can be sure the numbers are all entered in sequence. We feel that only one person should be doing th...

 Here we will post procedures Dave and Sarah are using for the Colrain Historical Society Archives. A series of  "how to"  posts... recording how we are doing things like numbering the documents and artifacts, maintaining the database etc.