My assignment for this project was creating a detailed, structured, and accurate catalogue for the collection. This assignment provided the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to adhere to best practice for artifact recording. There were three main steps for my portion of the assignment:

1. Understand the collection and its contents.

I did this by researching 19^th century china as a medium and industry, as well as how to properly care for and identify different pieces.

2. Develop tags for each sub-collection.

The established tag for the collection as a whole is “GFC”. For the Deviny 2018 collection, I chose “D2018” because it is simple but still communicates both the donor and year of acquisition. Each item in this sub-collection is therefore tagged by “GFC-D2018-” followed by their individual item number.

3. Learn standard fields for artifact recording.

The record fields we are using for the GFC collection includes giving each piece a title, item number, description, dimensions, and condition description, among others. While developing the catalogue, I established a formula for filling in each field to ensure accurate and standardized entries.

There were a couple of challenges I faced while cataloguing that required more expansive research and creative solutions.

1. I relied heavily on the item names from the 1865 receipt, including measurements. I soon discovered there were inconsistencies between the measurements I took of the dishes and the recorded measurements on the receipt. After researching, I learned that the dishes were measured by pouces, or Paris inches; a form of measurement that was used in France before and shortly after the adoption of the metric system. To accurately identify each piece, I had to convert the measurements (1 pouce = 1.067 U. S. inches) and compare them to the measurements used to identify each piece on the receipt.
2. Because I was learning through action, my first attempt was incredibly unorganized and unclear. This was also my first real experience using Excel. After working in my first document for a week, I created a copy for record keeping and completely reworked it with what I had learned. It was frustrating at the time, but I believe it was a necessary step. I got to figure out first hand what did and didn’t work and finally made an inventory that I’m quite proud of.

After cataloguing a box worth of china and labeling the box accordingly, I passed the box on to my coworker Spencer to begin the process of digitization.

After cataloguing, the process of digitalization started. This is important for a number of reasons, but the primary goal of digitizing historical artifacts is to ensure the long term and ongoing access and usability of these sources for the future. We strive to keep original documents intact, but with modern technology, we can achieve an authentic and accurate replica for broader access.

I used a tripod, photo box, and a Sony A7S iii camera. This is a full frame mirrorless camera that is the best for capturing china in great detail. My first step was finding the best settings to use. This required a lot of trial and error. The settings I used are as follows: F9 fStop, 100 Iso, shooting speed 1/80 per second. I captured two sets of images in JPEG and AWR or (Sony raw image capture) for digital preservation. AWR or Sony Alpha RAW is a RAW camera file format that many Sony cameras use to give the best uncompressed and pure image to allow the maximum amount of flexibility during post processing and editing. Our core reasoning for choosing Sony as our camera in the archive is due to color science. Color science is key to maintaining the most original and consistent image. It’s an objective measure that is one of the most powerful elements in photography and is crucial to giving an original representation of a historical artifact.

After photographing a portion of a collection, I got started with organizing the files. For every piece I took 4 or more photos. If a piece of china had small details that were key to understanding the state of wear and condition, it required more photos. After photographing, I put each set of photos in a batch renaming program called Adobe Bridge. This software can do many things to make the process of archiving and organizing photos significantly more efficient. For example: it gives each file a name based on the physical tag attached to the object, and it allows the user to input metadata crucial to understanding the origins of the object and its historical importance.

For scanning documents like the receipt on display here, I used an Epson Expression 1300xl scanner at 400dpi to get the cleanest image possible. The scanning process was pretty simple. I used resources such as “Libguides” and asked for advice on public archivist forums to enhance my education on the various settings. Understanding the device’s settings is very important for scanning documents, as different settings should be used on different types of paper and conditions for clarity.

For me personally this was quite rewarding work. It blended my interest in technology, digital preservation, and public history.

At the end of the summer, Professor and Archivist Deborah Harmon arranged for Wright and Weaver to visit the South Carolina Digital Library. Utilizing the skills and vocabulary they had learned over the summer, the students were able to converse with the archivists of the SCDL and learn the methods used there.

Spencer Weaver on visiting the SCDL:

The most exciting part of the summer was visiting the South Carolina Digital Library. Overall, the work we have done over the summer has proved to be a key part of our experience and aided in understanding the process of preservation on a larger scale. At the SCDL, we saw a full room of scanners as well as the process of photo editing and cataloging.

Caroline Wright on visiting the SCDL:

Getting to visit the SCDL was an overwhelming but amazing experience. Their area for digitization was massive, and they had a giant scanner for maps with hydraulic controls that had us speechless for a minute. Probably the most shocking part, though, was realizing that I understood what they were saying! I’ve never been very technologically inclined, but during this summer in the archive I’ve learned so much from Professor Harmon and Spencer that I was able to keep up with all the talk about different software and technology. My favourite part of the archives is how much we can discover and learn from each other, not just through the guided instruction from Professor Harmon, but also just through chatting about our processes while we’re working together. Visiting the SCDL also showed us how much we don’t know yet and made us even more excited to expand our knowledge and skills!