Digitization: Delaware Heritage Collection

One aspect of our grant objectives includes digitization of collection items. Once scanned, items will be made freely available online through the Delaware Heritage Collection.

The homepage for the Delaware Heritage Collection.

The Delaware Heritage Collection is a program sponsored by the Delaware Division of Libraries. It is described on their website as follows:

Documents, artwork, maps, newspapers, slides, photos, audio/video and other important items documenting Delaware’s rich history and culture can now be explored online! Through the Delaware Heritage Collection, items previously available only in local libraries, archives, museums, historic sites and other cultural institutions are being digitized and made available to anyone who has access to a computer.

This exciting project creates an online portal that makes it easy to search, discover, retrieve and view items and information. The technology offers many user-friendly tools and options that help bring Delaware’s history and heritage to life.

The Delaware Heritage Collection is a wonderful resource for students, educators, historians and anyone who enjoys exploring the people and events that created the Delaware we know today.

So far, DSU has contributed only a few items, but we will be consistently adding to it throughout the course of our IMLS project. Items to be digitized will be selected based on a number of criteria, including fragility, anticipated use, and correlation to scheduled exhibits or outreach initiatives. Fragile items will include those that are in danger of being irreversibly damaged through additional handling. Having digital surrogates in place will help lessen the burden of use on items found to be particularly susceptible to damage.

You can view Delaware State’s collection here.

Delaware State's collection within the Delaware Heritage Collection.

The first items to be scanned are going to be early issues of our school paper, The Echo, dating from 1909-1912. We expect to have the first batch uploaded by the end of the month, so stay tuned for an announcement here with a link when that happens.

Update: As of January 23rd, the first batch of The Echo is available in the Delaware Heritage Collection. Issues will continue to be added in the coming months.