Digitization is an integral part of nearly every institution’s preservation program. On-screen access and digital reference prints vastly reduce the need to retrieve original materials, allowing for far less handling and providing the opportunity to place original collections in true archival storage environments.

The Chicago Albumen Works provides digital services to meet the following needs:

• Archive master files prepared from scan or optical capture.
• Preparation of derivative files for reference, printing, database, and web use.
• Duplicate negatives from digital files via LVT film recorder.
• Copy negatives from digital files via LVT film recorder.
• Color restoration of faded color transparencies, output to digital media and/or duplicate transparency.
• Ink jet prints using Epson UltraChrome K3 archival inks on museum quality papers.
  
  

Vintage maps and drawings, broken glass plates, lantern slides, film negatives, historical and modern photographs and prints, photographic albums and art works- nearly any flat object can be digitized, restored and reproduced as print, b&w or color film, or as electronic file.

Data files that include technical and object related metadata can accompany every set of image files, with file structures and file naming conventions designed to integrate smoothly with the client’s own digital infrastructure.

Projects are structured to meet or exceed the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Archival Materials for Electronic Access: Creation of Production Master Files – Raster Images.

All LVT film output is subject to the same quality control as outlined in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s Technical Requirements For The Duplication of B&W Negatives: Shadow Normalization Tone Reproduction.

Our FTP server allows institutions to produce quality scans in-house and to transfer them to us for further work, such as making museum quality ink-jet prints, LVT film outputs, or even vintage media silver prints for exhibition.

CAW maintains an ICC compliant workspace through maintaining regular calibration of its digital equipment.

Digital imaging services can be found nearly everywhere, but it is the attention to detail and quality, as well as the ability to “read” the characteristics of an image, that proves essential to creating files of the highest quality. Just as in the past, when experience and dedication to vintage media printing informed and fine-tuned our negative duplication services, so now, in the arena of digitized images, our services are informed by a commitment to image quality, longevity, and a client’s needs. Keeping the conservation aspect of these services in mind and working in a calibrated digital environment, every effort is made to assure that the resulting files contain accurate image data and that they are produced in accordance with the most current digitizing and metadata standards.

Digital services provided by CAW are carried out in a professional conservation environment by staff members trained to handle valuable original material.

CAW © 2010