What was the price of butter when the new high school building opened in 1904? When did the first horseless carriages circle the square? Remember when …?
We have the answer to all your questions, but we can't put them up for you right now due to technical difficulties we cannot afford to fix. If you would like to help, please read on.
When the Mount Vernon Register-News went out of business earlier this year, we received cases of newspaper clippings and hundreds of rolls of microfilmed archives dating from their beginning. The print history of the news and advertising in the area for the last 150 years is right here, with the answers to all your questions. Unfortunately, finding an item of specific interest is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Currently, our only microfilm reader is itself an artifact of history. The microfilm can be dimly viewed, but there is zero digital capture capability. At best, we can snap a low-quality picture of the reader display.
Digitizing the microfilmed data into computer-searchable files would create a research resource valued by anybody with interest in local history. We believe that knowledge of the existence of such resources would help stimulate that interest. Ultimately, information and data could be made website accessible
Services that convert microfilm to computer files exist, but they charge several hundred dollars per roll, and we have about 500 rolls with undocumented content. Do the math: 500 rolls x $300/roll = $150,000.
A more affordable solution is to acquire a film-to-digital converter along with suitable computer storage and archival software. The film can be viewed and cataloged roll-by-roll and then each roll can be digitized in the order of prioritized interest. Early interested researchers can contribute to the digitization project in the process of their investigations.
So we are asking for your help.
The list below represents one possible solution. If you have or are aware of the existence of similar items at lower or no cost, please let us know.
If you have any curiosity about what you may find searching the hundreds of tapes, or just want to help, please let us know. You do not have to be a JCHS member to get involved. The project will take years with only our current budget and volunteers.
- Micro-Image Capture 8M $5,680
- Win 10 computer & monitor $ 600
- PastPerfect archival software $1,100
Total $7,380