A Quick Break from Scrapbooks: Scanning the Morris Gates Notebook

This week, I was given a brief interlude from scanning fraternity scrapbooks when the archivist told me that there was a priority project that needed work - and involved the scanner. One of the Jesuits on campus had requested a digital copy of a notebook in the archives owned by a former student, Morris Gates. The notebook is the oldest item in our archives, dating to the early 1830s.

Needless to say, I've been insanely careful all week with this notebook.

Most of what is written inside is Latin translations, especially from Cicero's In Catilinam. The handwriting is fairly neat for script, and most of the book is in black ink, with the exception of a penciled in signature on one of the back pages. I was also somewhat excited to see ink sketches of birds made completely out of flourishes on the first page - it's a craft that is rarely practiced anymore, and I thought it was really cool to see.

Scanning wise, this book wasn't much different than the scrapbooks. Because it is older than 1950, I did handle it with gloves (as per protocol), and made sure to be gentle while flipping pages to prevent any further damage from coming to it. But, despite its age, the notebook was relatively easy to scan, and was actually a little easier than the scrapbooks have been, mainly because I didn't have to worry about glare on photographs.

I've really enjoyed working with Gates' notebook this week, and I'm excited to wrap up the fraternity scrapbooks next week.

This week's playlist has been more Fall Out Boy - I'm really hooked on American Beauty/American Psycho. It's also really good for an energy boost just when scanning gets to be tedious.

Fall Out Boy

Below are some images (finally!) of the scrapbooks that I've been working with. Eventually, I will get them up on a website and you will be able to see them in their entirety.

Kappa Sigma Crest

Kappa Sigma Scrapbook

Phi Kappa Transition, Phi Kappa Theta 1959 Scrapbook

Phi Kappa Theta 1962-63 Scrapbook

Phi Kappa Theta 1964-65 Scrapbook

All On My Own: Completing My First Solo Scrapbook

Yesterday, I completed my first solo scrapbook scanning. I worked on the Phi Kappa/ Phi Kappa Theta scrapbook from 1957 - 1959, which covers their early years on campus and national merger with Theta Kappa Phi. It was in better condition than the Kappa Sigma scrapbook, which made scanning it into the computer much easier for me. I also pulled the images into a digital scrapbook without help from the archivist, which made me feel very proud of my abilities. Finally, I think I'm getting the hang of all the technology!

Phi Kappa Theta Crest

Coming up next: the other two Phi Kappa Theta scrapbooks, and then hopefully some sororities!

My playlist yesterday was the soundtrack to Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby. It has a lot of upbeat, peppy music, which is great when you're going a lot of repetitive actions (like scanning a book into the computer?).

An Introduction to Photoshop: Or, a Lesson in Online Preservation

Today was my first day digitizing the Kappa Sigma scrapbook. The archivist brought me over to our digitization machine, called the BookEye, and showed me how to scan in the pages of the scrapbook. After the pages are scanned in, the images go into Adobe Photoshop, where we cut them to size and clean up the edges so that they aren't awkward to page through. Eventually, these will be saved as PDF files and .jpegs and turned into an online book that looks identical to the physical scrapbook held in the archives on campus.

BookEye Scanner - similar to what I'm using now

Scanning images in, I have now learned, is somewhat tedious. So I have decided that I need to come up with a playlist for scanning, to make passing the time more interesting. Today's playlist was the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy, because its eclectic mix of music from the late 1960s and the 1970s encompasses the feeling of many of the images that I was scanning today. Hopefully, next time I'm in the archives, I will be able to post some of the images that I've scanned! Until then, I'll keep looking into Greek life on campus, and learning more about the tools of the trade. 

Quite literally an awesome mix of music