21COFH - Letter Scanning Work Flow

This week we are wrapping up our project to digitize some of our family papers. I am working with some of Dad's letters from hid early years.

After tinkering around with all of the steps necessary to scan Dad's letters, I've finally settled in. Here are the steps I am taking.

Note:

• Dad's letters are already in individual folders so I am working with one folder at a time.

1.  Using the item level inventory I set up in OneNote, I came up with a file name for each file. Doing this up front helped make sure I was consistent in naming files. I also decided to give each folder a number and included this on the inventory form. It will help with locating the physical letters at a later date.

2.  Next I wrote the folder ID on each of the folders.

3.  Scan the contents of one folder at a time. (Do steps 4-6 before scanning the next folder.)

At this point I decided to change my work flow for the remaining steps. First I'll describe what I was doing initially. Then I'll tell you how I changed it to incorporate Lightroom.

4. Since the files are automatically named (scan0001, etc.), I renamed each file using the filenames from step 1. The filenames are already in OneNote so this step is a simple copy and paste.

5. Using Photoshop Elements, I added identifying metadata to each file, such as my contact info, so anyone who gets a copy of any of these files in the future will know where it came from.

6. Also using Photoshop Elements, I added some tags. I decided to go with Dad's name, and Correspondence or Letters for all of the files. Then depending on the letter, I might add Military or Navy, and if the letter was from a family member I included that person's name. For this step you need to think about how your brain retrieves information and add tags accordingly. Everyone is different. What's important is that you can search using a tag and locate the files you want.

7. When all of the file folders have been scanned, they will go back into their designated spot in Dad's box of papers.

Here's what I changed using Lightroom (steps 4-6):

Note: I have a Lightroom catalog just for family history.

4. Once in Lightroom, locate the files from the folder I just scanned and prepare to import (add) that group of files to the catalog.

• I set up what is called a Metadata Preset with my contact information and the Tags that will be applied to every single letter. So this will be automatically done on import.
• Input the filename for this group of files.
• After importing, if there were any additional tags I wanted to apply to just that letter, I did so.

That's it. I just keep doing those steps over and over. Not the most exciting stuff but I'm confident it will prove worthwhile in the future.

Hopefully this helps. If you have questions or comments, let us know in the comments section. Good luck this week.

URL for this post: http://turning-of-generations.blogspot.com/2012/11/21cofh-letter-scanning-work-flow.html

© 2012, copyright Michelle Goodrum

21COFH - Letter Scanning Wrap-up - Week 46

Last week took an unexpected turn for the crazy - in a good sort of way. So I didn't quite finish scanning Dad's letters. This week we will wrap it all up. I'll post my work flow tomorrow after I work out a couple of "bugs" and get the remaining letters scanned.

Scan away my friends!

© 2012, copyright Michelle Goodrum

21COFH - Scanning Letters - Week 45

This is the last week of our multi-week project working with family papers. Last week we did an item level inventory. This week it's time to digitize the documents.

I'm still working with Dad's correspondence from his childhood and early adult years.

Before beginning, here are some factors to consider. My comments are in italics.

• IF you are using a flatbed scanner, make sure the glass is clean.
• Decide if you will be scanning envelopes. I will be.
• Will you be scanning both sides of each page regardless of whether there is anything on it or not?
• Yes, that way I know for sure what was or wasn't on the backside of each paper.
• What file format(s) will you use? JPG, TIFF, PDF? Other?
• Since Dad's letters are important documents, I will scan them using TIFF format. It's a "loss-less" format and widely accepted so it should be readable by future programs. I may also convert them to pdf.
• What dpi (resolution) will you use?
• Normally I like to use 600 dpi but for letters, 300 dpi will be fine.
• Decide on your file naming scheme.
• Since these files will reside together in a folder on my computer, and I would like them to sort by date, the file name will be something like this:
• yyyy-mm-dd_LastName_FirstName_to_Name_letter.
• The date will be the date of the letter or the date of the postmark.
• If the document has multiple pages, p01, p02, etc. will be appended to the file name.
• Decide where on your hard drive the files will reside and what the folder structure will be.
• I set up a folder called Family Archive. Each folder inside will represent a box of documents. The next folder level will represent Dad's Correspondence. All of the scanned letters will go in there.
• Is there any labeling of your physical folders that still needs to be done?
• I haven't done this and am still debating on the format. I'll get back to you on this!
• Decide what metadata, if any, you are going to include.
• When I import into the Lightroom Cagalog, I will add tags such as Dad's name and his parents names, where appropriate. For the letters relating to his Navy Days the tags and "Military" or "Navy"  can be added.
• Ideally I would like to include a source citation in the Description field but in reality that might be a bit ambitious right now. The information needed to do this has been documented through this entire process in my OneNote "Project Notebook." It won't be a problem to go back and create them on an as needed basis.

Several days ago, Moultrie Creek Gazette posted, A Letter Archive Option, where she discussed using Keynote in digitizing a series of old letters. Check it out!

Time to start scanning! Questions? Comments? You know what to do!


URL for this post: http://turning-of-generations.blogspot.com/2012/11/21cofh-scanning-letters-week-45.html

© 2012, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Pictures, pictures, pictures - 21COFH Week 16

This next project we are back working with pictures. Since I just don't see this project being completed in one week, we are going to spend two weeks on this one. The objective is to scan, add meta-data and organize both the physical and digital photos. Personally, I have a second objective as well which is to get input from some family members to help identify some of the people and places in these pictures.

Here's the step by step I plan on taking with this group of early to mid-twentieth century photos.

1. Scan each item, front and back, in the order found in the box they have lived in for the past several decades. I can tell these pictures have been looked at and probably mixed up on numerous occasions but I'm going to keep them in the same order anyway, just in case there's a clue.  
2. Upload the photos to their permanent storage location such as a laptop.
3. Rename the files. I will use a sequential naming scheme and append "a" and "b" to each in order to keep the front and back of each photo together.
4. Add metadata.
5. Organize the physical photos.
6. Create an index, one each to go with the physical photos, one for the file folder on the computer with the digital photos and a copy for the "Project Notebook"
7. Write up a few sentences regarding the provenance of this mini collection: the who, what, when and where. Also describe the naming convention for the files and where the pictures are stored. Like the index a copy needs to be in the Project Notebook, with the digital photos and with the physical photos.

I'm not sure how far I will get with this project during the week, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Please share your project, trials and tribulations either in a post of your own or in the comments. If you write your own post, leave a link in the comments.


URL for this post: http://turning-of-generations.blogspot.com/2012/04/pictures-pictures-pictures-21cofh-week.html

2012, copyright Michelle Goodrum