Digitizing and Sourcing Images and Text (and Video) (Unit 8)

Most of the sources I have used for digital materials for the trolley project I have been working on have come from Library of Virginia, and a website called Card Cow. The Library of Virginia has a digital copy of a map on its site that I have actually seen locally, and the digital copy has their copyright on it! The map is definitely in the public domain, so I am puzzled as to why they copyrighted it. Another digital copy I have used is the background for this blog, which is a middle section of a long map from the 1880s. I located the map at a local florist, and I took pictures of it before I found a digital copy on line. When I look for any digital copy, I "google" the possible key terms to find what I hope is out there. In the short future, I am planning on going to the new library at the Mount Vernon estate and the Queen Street Library in Alexandria city. I also will look on the Library of Congress website for digital copies of photographs for my trolley project.

I have digitized materials for my own use, plus I have plans to digitize a book I own that has a 1925 date. I believe the book, "Trinity ! Break Ye My Commandments?" by Willis Timothy Gridley is now in public domain, but I have seen later dates, 1930, for the book listed on Amazon. Along with my book, a numbered copy of 2500, I have letters that were sent to my grandfather from other members of the group who wanted to fight the Trinity Church of NYC for property rights. My grandfather was a descendent from the second marriage of Anneke Jans Bogardus, and the descendants thought they were "robbed" of their part of NYC. This all took place in the 1920s, and when I read the letters, I had a sense of paranoia. Gridley was eventually disbarred in 1928, and the efforts of the group ground to a halt. This is another project I want to pursue some time in the future.

In addition, I have digitized the church records (baptism, marriage, confirmation, and death) for a local Lutheran Church when we rebound/refurbished the "notebook." The church wanted to have back up copies in case something happened to the original copies. I do not have an example of the records at hand to show. I would need permission to display the records because the church is still active, and many of the records represent still living individuals.

The pages from the church records were oversized, and I used the local Fairfax Library copiers to copy them to .pdf type files. The library leases Ricoh copiers that fulfill many functions (copy, copy to file, and print) for the library patrons. The copiers are large format, and the copy to file can be either .pdf or .tiff files with ability choose the dpi in color or black and white.

My husband, Ken, and I have since bought a large format Brother printer/copier from Goodwill at a ridiculous price. The copier was donated because it "didn't work."  Ken spent ten minutes with it. He discovered if the drawer was left open when it started up, the printer would not go into a fatal loop because of the faulty software. It now works fine, and if it starts not "working," we know how to fix it. Apparently, it is a common defect in that particular Brother product, so many were probably junked.




provide two examples of materials that you have digitized;