Chester County Historical Society Digital Preservation Plan

FAIN: PG-51900-13

Chester County Historical Society (West Chester, PA 19380-2658)
Ellen Endslow (Project Director: May 2012 to October 2013)

The hiring of a consultant to develop a five-year digital preservation plan for the Chester County Historical Society, which houses collections documenting the history of Chester County and southeastern Pennsylvania. Among the historical society's extensive collections under consideration for this assessment is an archive of over 80,000 photographs that spans the history of photography from daguerreotypes to contemporary digital images and cover such topics as William South's experimental color photographs (1890-1912); the Quaker community; Arctic explorer Samuel Entrikin; the Civil War; and local politicians and entertainers. Also under consideration is a museum collection that contains samplers, furniture, paintings, agricultural equipment and paper dolls, and a library that houses materials about the Revolutionary War, World War I, and churches, cemeteries, and schools dating from the 19th century.

The Chester County Historical Society requests funds to work with Tom Clareson, a consultant and trainer for Lyrasis, to develop its first digital preservation plan for the entire collections department (library, museum and photo archives). These collections, being converted to electronic media, reflect three centuries of local people, places and events. CCHS currently has digital assets numbering over 120,000 records and photographs, many in databases, and has plans for increasing this number. For this project, the consultant will provide a pre-visit survey to determine the level of readiness, make a 2-day site visit to assess digital preservation needs and provide a staff in-service about digital preservation, and complete a final report. CCHS staff will use this report to develop a 5-year digital preservation plan. It will be incorporated into the Collections Department's Preservation Plan 2010 - 2018 and overall strategic planning for CCHS.