This summer [2013], we have completed the project we described at the end of last summer. We began the summer of 2008, with Robert working every summer to some degree since. Michael split the work with Robert in 2009. More commentary below the graphic (UPDATED 2013-08-31) after the break.
Completed is such an ambiguous word in a project of this nature, but we have managed to create a digital archive with over 86,000 images in Adobe Lightroom (the keywording and grouping of these images will be the next big project). We also have over 14,000 music tracks in the music library. That was made mostly from CDs–we’ve bought a lot of the big classical box sets over the last two years, though some of my recordings have also been ingested, some as just a complete show with no track marks.
Robert is starting his second year in the music education program at Western University (formerly University of Western Ontario) and is loving it. Michael is starting in criminology at the University of Ottawa and Mary Beth and I will be empty nesters! Mary Beth digitized the first 100 years of the history for her high school that her brother (John McIntyre, now curator-director of Sharon Temple) wrote and added a 25-year supplement to it for the 125th reunion this past spring…so we’re all into this.
I think Mary Beth and I put archiving in their blood, however, as Robert was hired as a summer intern at Sharon Temple and managed to scan some images on our equipment and finished all the critical images this summer. Michael was hired for a brief internship ingesting video tapes and packing and moving archives for Magic Circle Entertainment /MANOWAR — the loudest heavy metal band in the world and really nice people.
Probably one of the best sources of rationalizing the technical details for a scanning process is the work done by Tim Vitale.
Film Grain Resolution and Perception
Estimating Historic Image Resolution
Brief History of Imaging Technology
I think that archiving images is just as important as archiving sounds and the deeper you get into any of this, the more complex things seem to become.
Personally, I feel a sense of relief that I have been able to bring all of this information into the new digital world and have it accessible for my family.
We hope you had a productive summer. If you have any questions you think I might be able to answer, please email.