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General Information
North Fork Historic Preservation Society
Negative and Photo Digitization Project
The North Fork Historic Preservation Society (NFHPS) has a large number of negatives and pictures documenting the North Fork area from the early 1900’s. The complete collection consists of several different sets of negatives and prints. The NFHPS has embarked on a project to digitize some of these collections and make them available on-line for researchers.One of the collections contains approximately 1500 glass plate negatives from the studio of W. S. Edwards, Photos, Official Photographer for the Paonia Commercial Assocation, Paonia, Colorado. Most of the negatives are 5 x 7 inch glass plates but the collection also includes some 8 x 10 inch plates and some that are 3.5 x 5 inches. This collection is designated RG0001PH and is our top priority due to the storage issues and fragile nature of these negatives.
The second major collection contains an unknown number of 3.6 x 6 inch nitrate negatives, primarily scenic shots, taken in the surrounding area. We believe the photographer to be Curtiss. This collection is designated RG0002PH. This collection will be the second one to be scanned.
The third major collection includes a number of panoramic and other prints of the area for which we no longer have the negatives. These items are designated RG0003PH. If there are specific requests for images from this collection they will be scanned on an as needed basis.
Additional collections include a number of nitrate and safety film negatives of Paonia High School graduating classes, sports teams and club members. Dates on this collection range from the 1920’s to the 1980’s. There are no plans to digitize these negatives at this time. If you are a genealogist and this collection interests you please contact the Society for how you can become involved in the preservation and digitization of these images. These items are designated RG0004PH.
To assist in the digitization and cataloging process the Society has joined the Collaborative Digitization Program (CDP) as a member organization.
We are also actively seeking volunteers to assist in the proper cataloging of the images. You must have an internet connection and be willing to learn proper cataloging procedures. More infomation on the format we are using can be found at the CDP Website in the Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices Document. If you want to volunteer contact oogiem @ paonia.com for more information.
As the project has started we are scanning negatives and storing the thumbnail files locally. Final access, master and reference files will be stored on the CDP servers.
Glass Plate Negative Collection at Start
Volunteers have completed training in the proper conservation of these items and a work plan has been developed for the proper cleaning, housing, scanning and cataloging of the two major collections of local interest, RG0001PH, the Edwards Glass Plates, and RG0002PH, the Curtiss negatives. Our initial focus will be to properly clean and re-house the glass plate negative collection.
Cataloging help is always needed.
Cleaning the Glass Plate Negatives
Cleaning the Glass Plate Negatives
Inspecting the Glass Plate Negatives
All the glass plate negatives are now properly housed in archival sleeves and protective storage boxes. The task to scan to archive resolutions is starting now. We expect this to take several years.
All the glass plate negatives have been removed from the library basement and are now safely stored in archival sleeves and protective boxes.
We have started the digitization process and have about 60 images properly scanned at this time.
We have also started the cataloging process that is required to get the images on the CDP website and searchable.
Once all the glass plates are stored properly we will be turning our attention to re-housing the Curtiss negatives.
Volunteers and Donations needed
The preservation of the glass plates costs the Society $2.00 per plate in materials. Volunteers are doing all the cleaning, scanning and cataloging of the images. We are always looking for donations to help defray the costs. Contact us to send in your donation Historical Photos
As a preliminary test a number of photos have been scanned at low resolution and are available
here. Project Status
We have completed an initial survey of the condition of the various holdings.
