Transcribing and Digitizing Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Letters for a Historical Digital Repository

Abstract

In fall 2011, the Scott Memorial Library purchased 53 letters belonging to an 1841 graduate of Jefferson Medical College, John Plimpton Green. The library staff transcribed and digitized the letters, creating an online collection in the university's institutional repository, Jefferson Digital Commons. This article will detail the process of transcribing and digitizing the collection along with sharing statistics and the benefits of this project to global researchers.

KEYWORDS:

• Digitization
• historical collections
• institutional repositories
• Jefferson Digital Commons
• John Plimpton Green
• special collections
• Thomas Jefferson University archives

Notes

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wmrs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emily S. Dunster

Emily S. Dunster, MS ([email protected]) was Digitization Librarian at Scott Memorial Library, Thomas Jefferson University, and now works at Grassroots Books, 660 E. Grove Street, Reno, NV 89502.

Daniel G. Kipnis

Daniel G. Kipnis, MSI ([email protected]) is Senior Education Services Librarian and Editor of the Jefferson Digital Commons

F. Michael Angelo

F. Michael Angelo, MA ([email protected]) is University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian; both at Scott Memorial Library, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.