Let me add a big AMEN to your comments, Richard. I, too, live in Tallahassee, but getting downtown while the archives are open is difficult for me. With the Internet, I can do research while the librarians are snug in their beds. The Internet iis the best way there is to truly share. Peggy Munroe ---------- > From: Richard White <rwhite@pone.com> > To: FLORIDA-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: Florida Photos on the Web > Date: Friday, November 27, 1998 12:11 AM > > Dean... > > I've had to mull this over awhile and while I don't want to seem unduly > contentious, I think that you are perhaps deluding youself a bit. While > I am sure that you are completely serious about making people aware of > the collection at UWF... the web just does so incredibly much more. I > offer some examples from my own personal experience, of how the expanded > access that the web offers can make unexpected differences. > > I have been aware of the the Florida State Archives photography > collection for eons... or more specifically, for over 20 years. I have > used it both in my state job and in connection with a historical web > site that I have created which pertains to the Civil War in North > Florida. And... and... *AND* I live only 6 or 8 blocks away from the > Gray Building... the home of the Florida State Archives. But I almost > never have browsed the photo hard copies at the Archives just for the > fun of it. That is so easy to do on the web... I have done it a number > of times. I even looked at the many unidentified 19th century photos of > citizens of Tallahassee and found a picture that I feel must be of the > grandmother or great grandmother of a woman I worked with a number of > years ago. The resemblance is remarkable. I also saw something so > clearly in the eyes of what must have surely been a number of now > unknown Civil War veterans. The anguish and sorrow of the war and its > aftermath are written plainly on their faces. > > I would not have seen many things that the original source objects of > sit on shelves only about a quarter of a mile from me, had they not been > transformed into computer graphics and put on the web. I will probably > never have a chance to travel the many miles to UWF... and especially > since I have no idea of the specific things that are in the collections > there. I think that these limitations apply to many people who can > access information on the web, and will benefit from that access if you > give it to them, in ways that we cannot fathom even now. Web acces is a > goal to strive towards... > > Even so I would have never thought to look there for a photo of my great > great uncle Green Berry Haven's house in Madison. But it is there... > and I found it, but I did not find it by travelling 6 blocks. I found > it on my computer at home through the miracle of electrons. > > I did travel the six blocks to check in both the Archives proper and > with the photo archives for a lead on where I could find a photo of > Confederate Major Pickens Bird of Madison. Nobody knew. There was some > thought that there was no such picture. But SON OF A GUN... There it > is in the same Madison photo collection that houses the picture of Green > Berry Haven's house. Well, maybe. There is a picture that is thought > to *probably* be of Pickens Bird. I'm easy. That's good enough for me. > > The web opens up so very many opportunities for access to so many > people. You may not have a plan now for web access to the UWF photo > archives, but I think that you are going to find sooner or later that > you have to have one. > > Big problems become small opportunities when they are broken down into > managable chunks and it might be decades before the whole collection > could be digitized, but that is where managing can be done by > establishment of clear priorities. > > No pressure... but I encourage you to look to some creative ideas in > this area instead of defending what I believe is an option of very > rapidly declining viability. > > If some of UWF's photos were on the web, I *would* look at them... > > RW > > Dean DeBolt wrote: > > > > Richard asks a reasonable question about whether we intend to > > scan and post photographs on the web. At the present time, we > > do not intend to do so. There are good reasons for this. First, > > photographs take a great deal of computer storage space and > > when your collection exceeds 30,000 photographs, which exactly > > do you put up? Street scenes? Family reunions? Second, most > > archives, historical societies, and research centers have limited > > staffing. We simply don't have the staff it would require to scan and > > maintain an online archive of our photograph collections. > > > > But simply because something is not available on the web, should > > not detract researchers. I could probably list a dozen historical societies > > and libraries with collections the size of mine which will never find their > > way to the web for the same reasons I've enumerated. > > > > My purpose responding to the list was to (1) point out that there are many > > other sources of Florida photographs for researchers, and (2) they may > > not be all online. > > > > Dean > > > > Dean DeBolt, University Librarian > > Special Collections and West Florida Archives > > University of West Florida Library > > 11000 University Parkway > > Pensacola, FL 32514-5750 > > Tele: 850-474-2213. Fax: 850-474-3338. > > E-mail: ddebolt@uwf.edu > > ---------------------------------------------------- > > Reach me by ICQ. My ICQ# is 14599771 or, > > * Page me online through my Personal Communication Center: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/14599771 (go there and try it > > ----------------------------------------------------