December 14, 2018—Microfilm copies of newspapers in the Excelsior Springs Museum & Archives have been preserved in a digital version for generations to come.
Volunteer Jan Marasch said the project, in partnership with Oklahoma Correction Industries, converted the brittle microfilm copies of The Daily Call, The Weekly Call, The Excelsior Springs Journal, The Daily Standard and The Excelsior Springs Standard dated between 1905 and 2012 to DVD.
The Museum began asking for donations to contribute to the project in the Spring of 2017. The Museum expected OCI to ship the completed 311 DVDs of the 199 scanned microfilm reels earlier this week.
Donations made the preservation and digitization of the newspapers possible.
Kathy Duncan, head of operations, said the Museum received very generous contributions.
“We are so grateful to our dedicated supporters who donated to make this project become a reality,” Duncan said.
Museum Treasurer and Head of the Fundraising Committee, Deb Foster, left, is presented a check from Registrar Jane Farrenkopf, center, and Vice President Kathy Duncan, right, of The Excelsior Springs Genealogical Society. The Society received a $1,000 check as payment for the 21st Century Grant from Missouri State Genealogical Association in support of the Museum’s newspaper digitization efforts. Denise Siegel | Submitted photo
The original estimate of the project accounted for the average of 700 images per microfilm reel. However, the Museums microfilms contained nearly 1,000 images per reel, which became an unexpected overage.
Thankfully, the contract between the Museum and OCI priced the first 150 reels at $3,781.45, and the additional 49 reels at $2,520.95. The total project came to a total of $6,302.40, considerably less than $34,000—the current rate OCI charges—and was in the ballpark of other estimates the Museum obtained.
Of the approximate $4,300 the Museum received in donations, $1,040 came from the Excelsior Springs Genealogical Society. The ESGS received the 21st Century Grant from Missouri State Genealogical Association in Columbia at the associations August meeting. In addition to the $1,000 grant, ESGS also donated an additional $40 to the project.
Once the DVDs arrive at the Museum, Marasch will review the images and place them on a new server, organizing them for use by Museum researchers.
“We believe that having these newspapers available in a searchable PDF format is going to help us provide much better service for our research clients,” Duncan said. “It’s going to be life-changing for the Museum volunteers who do the research. And of course, it will provide an additional layer of preservation for our community’s newspapers.”