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  1. #1
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
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    Default Recording and preserving magazine articles

    I'd be glad of any advice about this please. I have 74 parish magazines from 1946 to the mid-1960s. They contain articles written by my uncle. I want to donate the magazines and just keep physical copies of what he wrote.
    What is the best way of doing this? Photographing the A5 text? Scanning the text and printing it out? I think photographs would last longer than modern paper and printing ink, although I am not sure? Hope someone can resolve my predicament.

  2. #2

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    I normally scan such things, and than make a print for my files. That means that if you ever want to give a copy to someone, you can just go back to the pdf file.
    Mind you, I also keep backups on an external drive in another building (office files at home, home files in the office), so it’s useful to have PDFs....

    PS For some reason there’s a duplicate of this message which I have unapproved (for later deleting when I get back to my pc) so that we don’t get 2 threads being used.

  3. #3
    Valued member of Brit-Gen emmteeyess's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lesley Robertson View Post
    I normally scan such things, and than make a print for my files. That means that if you ever want to give a copy to someone, you can just go back to the pdf file.

    Mind you, I also keep backups on an external drive in another building (office files at home, home files in the office), so it’s useful to have PDFs....
    Excellent advice Lesley -

    I would concur with scanning rather than photographing as the clarity is far superior, and I wouldn't bother with OCR scanning if your not going to do any editing of the text. Often the OCR software isn't that brilliant at reading 'blurry' newspaper text anyway.

    Obviously scanning is not just for magazine articles Reinga - as 'such things' can include photos, certificates of all kinds, newspaper cuttings, book pages etc. and the pdfs can be forwarded onto interested parties, as Lesley points out. (Not sure about copyrights, but that's a separate problem for a separate thread!)

    I too have started to back-up my important computer stuff onto an external drive (so that's a step in the right direction) but I haven't gone as far as storing it away from home yet. Something else to mull over.


    Cheers, MTS

  4. #4
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Default

    Yes I would agree with Lesley and Emmteeyess scan to articles.

    I would just add if the pages do not carry a header or footer giving the title, date and volume/page number I would add those to the scan.
    You could do this by printin the information on a single sheet of paper and cut it into strips which you scan with the article if you are not able to add the information digitally.

    In a similar manner name people on photos when you scan them

    Cheers
    Guy
    As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

  5. #5

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    Good idea, Guy. I normally put identifiers in the file & folder names, but paper slips would be simpler.

    I got paranoid about different buildings after we lost a building at my Uni to fire. I condoled with a colleague as a wall fell away to reveal his office and desk, then he said that though he’d backed up religiously BUT the DVDs were all in the drawer under his pc..... I manage a small archive, and we’ve spent quite substantial grants getting handwritten documents professionally cleaned and scanned. Those files have been deposited in several places!

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