Public Archives and Research Library Preservation Assistance

FAIN: PG-50737-10

Idaho State Historical Society (Boise, ID 83712-8250)
Kathy Hodges (Project Director: May 2009 to July 2011)
Rosemary McClenahan (Project Director: July 2011 to July 2011)

Hiring an audiovisual consultant to assess the oral history and moving image collections created from 1960 to the present contained in the society's Public Archives and Research Library that document the state's local history and culture. The corpus includes 2,411 interviews and 5,000 motion pictures and videos. Idaho has had an oral history program since 1978, documenting topics ranging from homesteading, logging, and folk customs to veterans' histories, the status of ethnic minorities, and civil rights. The consultant will provide a report that identifies the most at-risk materials, suggest reformatting priorities, give advice on in-house and vended services, and help develop a plan for digitizing the collection.

Consultant John Seman, a recognized expert on the preservation of audio-visual materials, will assess oral history and moving image collections at the Idaho Public Archives and Research Library and assist in the development of a long-term preservation plan.