Fraser Technology Retrieves History

Fraser technology capabilities was at the core of a recent project for the Henry Janssen Library at the Historical Society of Berks County. Fraser created a technology package that helped the society retrieve and preserve their archives with the help of scanners that have the ability to read microfilm.

(Click HERE to read the original news article about the project).

Scanners give new life to Historical Society archives

Ron Devlin (Reading Eagle)

In a basement vault at the Historical Society of Berks County, Kimberly Richards gently opens a binder containing copies of the Reading Telegram from 1914.
Flakes of dried paper fall from the 97-year-old newspaper, which hasn’t seen the light of day in decades.
“In this condition, we can’t allow researchers access to the newspaper,” says Richards, director of archives and special collections.
The recent acquisition of electronic scanners at the society’s Henry Janssen Library, however, is opening up the previously untapped archive to researchers and history buffs.
The society’s new 18-by-24-inch flatbed scanner, for example, can convert an entire page of a newspaper into a digital file that can be stored in a computer.
Once in the computer, a researcher can access the document without physically handling it.
“This is a real game-changer,” declared Sime Bertolet, the society’s executive director. “It will provide the people of Berks County, as well as researchers from across the country, greater access to Berks County’s heritage.”
Bertolet believes the new equipment makes Berks unique among county historical societies.
“I’m fairly certain we’re the only ones in Pennsylvania to have these kinds of resources,” he said.
Grants totaling $56,000 from the Wyomissing Foundation, the Berkshire Charitable Foundation and the Henry Janssen Foundation enabled the society to purchase the flat scanner and three ST View Scan devices that make it easier to read documents stored on microfilm. The text can be enlarged, made clearer and copied to a printer.
Researchers can isolate specific portions of the text, say a specific article, rather than having to copy an entire page of an old newspaper.
Richards said about a third of the society’s archive is currently stored on microfilm.
The archive includes an array of old newspapers, including the Adler, the Daily Reading Eagle and the Reading Labor Advocate. In addition to newspapers, the microfilm archive includes family scrapbooks, business ledgers, tax lists, census data and church and cemetery records.
Under “Finding Guides” on its website, the Historical Society already lists an index and brief synopsis of materials in various portions of its collection. The actual documents, however, are not yet available online.
The new scanners, Bertolet says, are the first step in making the society’s archives available online.
“We plan to seek grants that would enable us to begin the monumental task of converting our collections to digital form,” Bertolet said. “But that could take years.”