BCHS Reel-to-Reel Tape Digitization
To digitize a collection of archival reel-to-reel recordings, allowing for greater public access to these historic resources.
To digitize a collection of archival reel-to-reel recordings, allowing for greater public access to these historic resources.
$5,846,000 in fiscal year 2020 and $7,004,000 in fiscal year 2021 are for statewide historic and cultural grants to local, county, regional, or other historical or cultural organizations or for activities to preserve significant historic and cultural resources. Money must be distributed through a competitive grant process. The Minnesota Historical Society must administer the money using established grant mechanisms, with assistance from the advisory committee created under Laws 2009, chapter 172, article 4, section 2, subdivision 4, paragraph (b), item (ii).
Available upon request. Contact, grants@mnhs.org
Short Term:
The successful digitization is complete. The metadata assignment is in progress; however, this step of the project will be modified, as BCHS will be migrating to CollectiveAccess in early 2022. Our intent is to wait on the majority of the metadata assignments until the switch is complete. This will allow us to be trained on the new software and its particular requirements and guidelines for metadata.
Intermediate Term:
BCHS began promotion of the project in mid-summer 2021, in our quarterly newsletter The Depot Express, via social media, and in a press release to local media publicizing our receipt of the Legacy Grant for this project. There was immediate interest, as indicated by comments on social media and visitors to the museum, along with several donations specifically in support for the transcription expenses of the project. We've already had requests from several individuals for access to specific recordings: Jon Quistgaard, a local historian and author, requested and was given access to the Neils Hakkerup recording as soon as it was available, for an article he was in the process of researching and writing; and from Dr. Virgil Benoit, UND professor emeritus, for access to the recordings of Fred Cyr, an early county settler.
We will continue to promote and publicize the project, now that the transcriptions are underway and will be available.
Long Term:
The long-term aspects are in process. As part of the CollectiveAccess migration, our collections access system and on-line presence will both change significantly. Our plan is to wait until that change is complete before we make the bulk of the recordings widely available. Also, the transcription piece of the project will take far longer than expected 'we were overly optimistic about this. We believe that having the transcriptions available along with the recordings is important for the broadest public access. However, these mean a delay in our full implementation, and not a hard stop.
We also benefit from the Minnesota Digital Library's assistance with our transcriptions. As part of that arrangement, MDL will make our recordings available through their on-line collections. We are pleased to take advantage of their wide public reach.
Available upon request, grants@mnhs.org