Digitally Archiving Historical Sites? 55
Black_Macrame asks: "I have recently moved from 10 years of working with the net in various capacities (read all) to a slightly more analog field. I am now the curator of a Historical Site in Texas which is essentially, a relatively isolated, old (1875) family home. It once was a school, and is now currently a tax shelter for the family, and a fertile wildlife sanctuary. No-one has opened many of the drawers of the furniture here since they were last shut. There are letters of love, war, death, and all the usual human experiences, plus alot of antiques and many old books. It's a big historical database and I want to archive -everything- digitally: letters, furniture, books, 360 VRML of the rooms and even old 78 rpm records. Does anyone out there have any experience with similar projects? Any suggestions for tracking the antiques (books, furniture, knick-knacks) online? Suggestions for archiving the 78's? Anything in general?"
It's a good thing ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:It's a good thing ... (Score:1)
I read about something like this for humans (Score:1)
This would be a great method because not only would you be guaranteed not to miss anything, but you'd all see all the old construction techniques inside the walls and stuff (and maybe find hidden treasure!).
Re:I read about something like this for humans (Score:1)
no way (Score:5, Funny)
no friggin way! really? nobody's opened them up since somebody shut it? go figure...
obvious troll (Score:1)
Don't forget the other senses... (Score:3, Interesting)
In adition to video - I made an effory to preserve sound and smell and texture:
I videotaped the inside of the house, I left the microphone on as I opened closet and doors.
I also saved a bit of the oak flooring that gave a peculular smell and well as a bit of dirt from the back yard - to me, they bring back vivid memories of childhood*
I saved a few well-used door handels - they have a friendly touch.
Those sqeeks and groans and smells are firmly planted in my memory, and I'll be glad to hear them again when I'm feeling nostalgic ten years from now.
The whole package fits into a shoe box - I felt a little weird documenting my old home, as I'm not normally a meterialist person. I'm glad I did.
* there is a throry that because the smell organs are so close to the center of the brain, that smells are uniquely capable of triggering memories.
Proprietary formats (Score:1)
Great Project and some advice (Score:5, Insightful)
I have had some experience with people scanning in 3D objects. It's really fiddly and error prone but no impossible. The hardware all sucks but it's usable. Trackers all drift and behave according to their own rules. Smaller objects ( i.e. 20cm cubed or less ) can be more easily scanned with 3D scanners, but these are hideously expensive. You might want to contract out a company for the smaller stuff, you can find them easily enough with Google.
For the room and building scans DONT use VRML. Get an someone who can handle a 3D CAD package to build the thing with textures from photographs. Quicktime VR is neat, but not enough probably.
If there is a University nearby check if they have courses for people doing architecture and 3D graphics. If they do you could give some students some very valuable experience and get cheaper labour for yourself.
Tough task (Score:2)
Wow, that is a difficult problem. I'm not sure you are going to be able to properly archive the documents in those drawers. As for the 78's, that's easy [slashdot.org]!
-Sean
Xerox (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Or Canon or Sharp (Score:1)
Re:Or Canon or Sharp (Score:1)
Talk to an archeologist. (Score:3, Interesting)
You can probably adapt some of the methodologies and techniques they use to help you map out the location of items, make note about condition, etc. In particular, you may be able to find software specifically geared towards mapping out a dig.
You may even be able to set things up with a local university and get a couple of cultural anthropology students to give you a hand with the initial work in exchange for credit.
archiving the homestead (Score:4, Informative)
I also went through the house and took pictures of each room including each of the walls, and any other unique structures (ie: the beehive oven in the basement, the hand-carved mouldings in the parlor, the original fan-light over the front door, etc...) or additions (the safe we hid in a wall durring reconstruction of two rooms). These pictures were all taken with a consumer-grade digital camera (Canon A20) so I do not have high hopes for them insofar as reconstructing QTVR or anything like that. However I think that combined with the detailed floor-plans, I have more than enough information to build a rough 3D model at some point in the future if I ever decide to embark on that little adventure.
We have archived all this information with the local historical society for public use (minus any private details... such as the safe) and I guess our involvement in the house is at an end. But I like to think that if my children ever want to know what the house I grew up in looked like, I can give them a good idea of what it was, and what made it so unique.
As far as the methodology for storing any information you collect in the process of documenting the household you are responsible for, please try and keep to open formats, and if possible, only touch the originals once. If you are willing to put the time and effort into archiving all the paperwork yourself, I would have to suggest investing in (or building yourself) a basic copy-stand. Such a rig will allow you to capture images (digital or film, tho' I would suggest digital, simply based on the per-image cost of handling film development) with a minimum of external variables, which may be increasingly important if you are working with color subjects.
I would also suggest that you be prepared to spend a fair ammount of time creating a multi-layer catalog for all the information you produce. Once you have removed the subjects from the physical realm and transfered them to digital representations, you lose the physical orientation and placement that helps keep them referenced to each other. Each item should be given a unique ID and a full record made of where it was originally located, what it was bundled with, any clues or physical cues that lead you to assume it's age, origin, provenance, etc... If you wish to make this information 'useful' to the next person who wishes to search through it, you must provide as much information as possible.
I would suggest getting in touch with your local historical society, or even looking farther afield to a profesional archivist for suggestions or assistance in planing the process before anything is disturbed.
As always, keep multiple backups in separate locations and be prepared to learn more than you ever thought you could ever find out about the people who's lives passed through those doors.
Best of luck to you, and don't forget to use acid-free paper (and CD's...)
Oregon Historical Society (Score:2)
Usenet? (Score:1)
Phil
Go to "The Experts" (Score:2)
It sounds like you have a great project ahead of you in a very nice setting. Enjoy it !
virtual heritage (Score:2)
Try a Google search for virtual heritage [google.com]. This is the term commonly used for digitally preserving historical sites, usually in some sort of interactive or 3D form.
The Virtual Heritage Network [virtualheritage.net] was founded through some of the work done at and people of VSMM98 [vsmm.org] and VSMM99 [vsmm.org], at the latter of which I presented my paper [unrealty.net] on Unrealty [unrealty.net], which used the Unreal engine for business visualization. This is relevant, because from the Florida Everglades to ancient Japanese temples, the Unreal engine continues to find applications like these, through inventive and forward-looking historians and researchers wanting the best combination of visually enticing and widely accessible heritage presentations.
Inexpensive 3d scanners? (Score:2)
Can anyone recomend an affordable 3d scanner and software ?
Colorado Digitization Project (Score:2)
Colorado Digitization Project's web site [coalliance.org], and contact the people involved.
The web site have a wealth of information and links to resources; documents with guidelines for "best practices" and the like.
A few months ago I had a question on open-reel magnetic tape preservation and I contacted some of the people involved, and, like most library folk, they answer their phones and emails, they know a lot, and are very helpful.