Preserving Old Glass Plate Negatives & More

I recently came across a large group of glass plate and unusually sized old film negatives in the attic of a commercial building.  Since this media contained images that we wanted to see for this investigation I purchased an Epson Perfection V750 Pro to scan the materials.  I’ve been working on the project for over a month, as I have time and it is producing excellent scans so we’re getting some great prints that probably haven’t been seen for nearly a hundred years.

It’s always exciting to discover new photographs so I’ve had a good time with this and I’m very pleased with the Epson.  I’d done a lot of research to make sure I selected the right product to do this kind of work, since it comes up for time-to-time and I haven’t been let down.  I also have a lot of slides that need scanning and I’ve done a few of those.  The results are excellent on those too.

If you’re looking for a scanner to do slides and negatives (film or glass), you should find this product to suit your needs.  There’s a family or related products so, depending on yur needs, you may not need the pro version.

Presentation at Preservation Maryland Conference

Last summer I participated in a Smithsonian traveling exhibit and I wrote about that experience on the Road Reports, Museums on Main Street blog.  The piece was called Reinvigorating the Past in Elkton, MD.  This past Thursday I was able to share our experience and learnings at the Preservation Maryland Conference in a presentation and panel discussion, which focused  on how small museums may use the Smithsonian program to strengthen their institutions.

Delaware Humanities Offers New Programs

For nearly a decade, I have provided some very popular lectures sponsored by the Delaware Humanities Forum and I have had rewarding experiences conducting these programs.  Every few years the organization updates it catalog and I was informed yesterday that they are going to offer a few new humanities topics that I have developed.  The details will be up on their web site soon so visit www.dhf.org and look under the speaker’s bureau for details.

The programs are

  • Duck and Cover:  Remembering the Days of Fallout Shelters, Conalrad, and Sputnik —  This program examines Civil Defense from World War II to the time when planning for survival of an all out nuclear attack started fading into the past.  Opening with an examination of World War II era blackout drills, plane spotter stations, and air raid wardens, the program quickly moves to the era where the stakes became higher, the nuclear age.   This was a time when air raid sirens wailed out signaling practice drills, Conalrad interrupted radio programs, government officials planned for the worst, and people contemplated building family fallout shelters .  Vintage audio and video footage, such as Bert the Turtle telling schoolchildren to duck and cover, helps  engage the audience in the program.
  • The Mason Dixon Line:  The Stories Behind a Geographic Boundary  — Born as the result of a bitter territorial dispute over royal land grants, the Mason-Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 to settle the boundaries for Pennsylvania and Maryland.  After 1820, when the Missouri Compromise created political conditions which made the line important to the history of slavery, it became associated with the division between the free and slave states.  Today the line is still seen by many as a symbolic dividing line for regional attitudes and customs.   This program explores the story of the line, which runs through our land and our history, along with the perceptions that have developed about the boundary
  • Oral History — This program shows audiences how to do effective oral histories and collect the memories of a lifetime.

Family History Workshop for New Castle County Library

Saturday I presented a three hour workshop on getting started with a genealogy project for the New Castle County Library System.  Despite the beautiful spring Saturday that was underway on Delmarva, an enthusiastic group of individuals showed up for the seminar.  They made our three hours pass by all too quickly as we explored research methods, talked about some of the family stories they were researching, and completed case studies.  It was great to see the enthusiasm this group had for preserving family stories and traditions.  I always look forward to these types of programs, especially when you see the excitement of the group as they learn new methods for collecting family history.