Preparing and Digitizing Brittle 19th and 20th Century Newspapers

Abstract

Digitizing brittle paper can be a difficult task that may cause tears and fractures, even when the material is carefully handled. Brittle paper in many formats can be found in archival collections. Bound newspapers in large, unwieldly, and deteriorating bindings pose a challenge for digitization by their size and number of pages. When charged with preparing late 19th- and early 20th-century brittle newspapers for digitization, the University of Maryland (UMD) Libraries developed a new process that serves as an effective, time- and budget-conscious approach to stabilizing brittle paper while preparing it for digitization. Those tasked with preservation and digitization can use a minimal amount of archival-quality tape, PhotoTex™ paper, and polyester folders, to enable extremely brittle newspaper to withstand the turns, flips, and movements required for optimal digital capture. Project staff can then select appropriate digitization and digital preservation standards available through their institution or partnerships to ensure a one-time digitization process, ideally using an overhead digitization setup to facilitate minimal pressure on the brittle pages. Lastly, the repository can store stabilized original newspapers in perpetuity in an organized and space efficient manner.