Welcome!
Thank you for registering for the online workshop, Digitizing Your Family History Collections!
Digitizing your family history papers and collections is an incredibly worthwhile project: it can help you in your ongoing research, prolong the life of these resources and your research, and provide an accessible format that can be shared with family members, fellow researchers, and generations to come. If you have binders and bins full of genealogical notes or are the repository of your family’s photographs, scrapbooks, and other heirlooms, this project may seem insurmountable. In this online workshop, our experts will demonstrate best practices to plan, scan, and manage your digitization project at home.
RECORDED PRESENTATIONS & MATERIALS
PLANNING & FILE MANAGEMENT
Guide to Digitizing Your Family History Collections (PDF)
Digitization Project Plan Worksheet (Editable PDF)
Collection Survey Worksheet (Editable PDF)
Digitized Image Inventory (.xlsx)
Topic: Planning Your Digitization Project
Presented by Sally Benny
Running Time: 33:03
Slides (PDF)
Topic: File Management and Preservation
Presented by Sally Benny
Running Time: 30:49
Slides (PDF)
Topic: Choosing Hardware and Equipment
Presented by Rachel Adams
Running Time: 8:08
Slides (PDF)
Resources for creating a Finding Aid for your collection:
Sample Finding Aid from the Society of American Archivists
Sample Finding Aid from American Ancestors Digital Library and Archives
Tutorial on creating a Finding Aid
SCANNING & PHOTOGRAPHY
Topic: Scanning and Photography Basics
Presented by Chloe Jones
Running Time: 10:33
Slides (PDF)
Topic: Digitizing Unbound Materials
Presented by Amanda Opalenik
Running Time: 4:12
Suggest watching: How to Handle Old Books (11:34)
Topic: Digitizing Bound Materials
Presented by Amanda Opalenik
Running Time: 3:41
Topic: Digitizing Three-Dimensional Objects
Presented by Chloe Jones
Running Time: 8:33
Slides (PDF)
Suggest watching: How to Unframe Art Items (10:43)
Topic: Digitizing Negatives and Transparencies
Presented by Chloe Jones
Running Time: 6:31
Slides (PDF)
IMAGE EDITING
Topic: Basic Image Editing with XnView
Presented by Rachel Adams
Running Time: 36:19
Slides (PDF)
Q&A with Instructors
Live Broadcast: July 23, 2022
Running Time: 1:30:31
INSTRUCTOR BIOS
Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator coordinates the web teams volunteers in scanning and indexing material that goes on the database. She started out as an intern at American Ancestors in 2018, before joining the staff full time. She grew up in Connecticut and has a B.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in printmaking and museum education.
Sally Benny, Digital Archivist manages the American Ancestors Digital Library & Archives website and is responsible for digitizing manuscripts and arranging and describing born-digital archives. She has an M.S. in Library Science with a concentration in Archives Management from Simmons University and received a Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certificate in 2017. She is an active member of the American Library Association and the Society of American Archivists, where she serves on the DAS education committee. Before joining the staff at American Ancestors in 2010, she worked at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
Chloe Jones, Database Projects Coordinator earned her B.A. in History at Connecticut College, and holds an M.S. in Library and Information Science with a concentration in archives management from Simmons College. Previously, Chloe has worked with the archive departments of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Natick Historical Society and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. Chloe's research interests include colonial New England, Native American studies, and working with archival collections.
Amanda Opalenik, Digitization Assistant assists in the digitization of records, books, and other materials that become searchable and browseable databases on our website, AmericanAncestors.org.