Developing a Digital Collections Preservation Plan

FAIN: PG-258326-18

Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (Dallas, TX 75202-3301)
Lindsey Richardson (Project Director: May 2017 to March 2021)

Consultation with a digital preservation expert from the Northeast Document Conservation Center to assist in the development of a comprehensive preservation plan to ensure the preservation of born-digital and digitized material related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Sixth Floor Museum, administered by the Dallas County Historical Foundation, is the primary research archive for the events of November 22, 1963, and is responsible for over 50,000 items including three of the four known films to have captured the Kennedy assassination, and over 6,000 photographs and photographic negatives taken by amateurs and professional newspaper photographers. The primary focus of the proposed preservation plan will be the museum’s digital collections, which include many of the 1,600 oral history accounts, and digitized copies of television, radio, and film accounts of the event. 

This proposal requests funds to support consultation with a digital assets expert to help The Sixth Floor Museum (TSFM) develop a digital collections preservation plan. TSFM collections document the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the events before and after, and the cultural context and legacy of Kennedy's death. Most collections are either already digitized or expected to be digitized in the near future. While the Museum has professional standards for the creation and use of such digital collections, consultation will help ensure that the long-term preservation of these assets is planned for with the same professionalism and care as the Museum applies to its physical collections. The resulting report will include assessments of TSFM protocols, standards and workflows, as well as recommendations for improvement of digital preservation at the Museum. The Museum will use findings and recommendations to develop a 5-year digital collections preservation plan.