‘W’ Working To Digitize Archives
COLUMBUS, Miss. – A significant portion of images in Mississippi University for Women’s archives will be digitized thanks to a grant from the Mississippi Digital Library.
The in-kind grant, known as the Cultural Heritage Digitization Award, will enable two individuals from Mississippi Digital Library to visit campus in August to digitize about 770 photos. MDL also will host the images and metadata on its website for The W.
Derek Webb, university archivist, said, “These images will be freely available to the public without having to come into the archives to look through them, increasing the archives’ visibility and the usability of our photos while lessening wear and tear.”
“They’re the photos that best meet the criteria of representing the history, culture and major events/figures of MUW; in the most delicate condition; and that tend to be the most popular. We took photos from all over our photo collection,” he added.
Archives also has been busy with coordinating with Dr. Beverly Joyce and Andy Snyder in Art and Design on a gallery exhibit of photos–some of the same photos that will be digitized. The office is working with History, Political Science, and Geography on a continuing project to get students to research racial integration on campus, marking the 50th anniversary in 2016.
In addition to collaborating with other offices, archives is continuing to move materials out of Orr and into Cromwell, a process started last spring. At this point, they have moved over half of their holdings.
“When I started here in 2013, we had no data for our photos. Nothing. No dates, no names for the people or buildings in them, just a drawer full of random photos. Martha Jo Mims, professor emerita in home economics, has been volunteering for over two years now meticulously identifying each photo, and she is just now finishing the project, so the timing of this grant was uncanny.
“We’ve also been wanting to join the Mississippi Digital Library for a while now, as it’s a great resource, but just haven’t had the resources to take the plunge. Everything just worked out,” Webb said.
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