Digital Projects
Digitization of Endangered Library Negatives
Two successive two-year projects to digitize 15,000 endangered negatives made on the photographic campaigns throughout the United States between 1922 and 1967 were launched in May 2009. These projects were partially funded through generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access, which designated them as part of their “We the People” initiative to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American culture. More than 5,000 of the targeted negatives have already spoiled, so the photographs originally printed from them will be digitized in order to preserve the images. The Library is committed to sharing the digital negatives with the broadest possible audience and to date has made 15,000 of them available through the Frick Digital Image Archive.
The Library digitized 25,000 fragile negatives between 2003 and 2007 through generous funding from the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation, The New York Times Company Foundation, and ARTstor. Most of these negatives were made by the Florentine photographer Mario Sansoni between 1925 and 1951 and the London firm A.C. Cooper, between 1922 and 1937. The digital files and cataloging data were contributed to ARTstor, a nonprofit digital image library for teaching and research. Between January 2008 and November 2009, ARTstor received more than 120,000 requests for these images.
Italian Anonymous Digital Photoarchive
A pilot project was undertaken with the vendor Global Art Systems in 1998 to produce a fully searchable text and image database of the 14,500 paintings, frescoes, and drawings by anonymous Italian artists represented in the Photoarchive. The project was sponsored by Pernigotti S.p.A., Averna Group in Milan. More than 17,000 photographic reproductions were scanned and the digital files, now residing on the Frick image server, will be made available to researchers for study. Although the system established through the project was not adopted by the Library, it was important to the development of the local Photoarchive database, which has since incorporated the project’s cataloging records.
Planning the Digital Photoarchive
Photoarchive Intellectual Property Survey, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 2001–02
The Library conducted a survey of the Photoarchive collection that analyzed the sources of the images as a preliminary study of intellectual property issues related to photoarchives. The project was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Ten percent of the holdings were surveyed and analyzed in relation to copyright issues, image rights holders, and photograph condition. The findings were presented at a 2002 meeting of the six largest American and European photoarchives, sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Getty Research Institute to discuss the role of these resources in the large-scale digital initiative that was to become ARTstor.
Cornell / Frick Digital Planning Partnership, Patrick A. Gerschel Foundation, 1998–99
The Library initiated a partnership with Cornell University and its digital program in 1998 that was sponsored by the Patrick A. Gerschel Foundation. The Cornell Interactive Media Group conducted two focus groups for the Library to study and evaluate public interaction with and expectations of digital resources. Library staff visited the Cornell University digital laboratories to learn about their technical work procedures and image databases. As a result of these consultations, the Library began testing image scanning and developing policies for best practices.
Documentation for the Photoarchive American School, Henry Luce Foundation, 1994–99
The Library developed a database system for cataloging the Photoarchive collection in 1996 as part of a project funded by the Henry Luce Foundation to improve access to the American artist holdings. This database became the foundation for the digital initiatives undertaken in 2003 to convert the Library negative collection to digital form. |
