Anyone
who has tried to do serious family history research must ultimately get
familiar with the dreaded microfilm reader.
This machine has revealed the past in frames-gone-by, to many countless
inquisitors. After my own experiences in
the dark recesses of the local Family History Library operated by the Later Day
Saints, I knew there had to be a better way...
I could see the early attempts to put indexes and information on CD-ROM
by the
In
July 2001, when David Dreyer introduced me to an opportunity where I might be able
to obtain a copy of the Glogowatz Church Records from 1836-1897, I was
hooked! This was a chance to link the
older 1770-1835 records available through the FHL with the present. My first thoughts were 'where can I buy a
microfilm reader and how much do they cost?'
My second thoughts were why couldn't we get the
records in digital format on CD-ROM. It
turned out that the attempts to obtain the
In
late July I put out the word via email and the Researchers of Glogowatz
responded. With pledges and support we
soon collected $1,070 and by the end of August 2001 we were ready. On October 13, 2001, David Dreyer personnally delivered the funds to Erwin while he was
attending a meeting of the AkdFF in
Now
I had work to do--convert, index, organize and burn CDs to get them into the
hands of those who contributed and then later make them available to any and
all researchers with an interest in Glogowatz!
I found a local company 'Knoxville Photocopy' who took on the challege of conversion.
They were equipped with a hi-tech Microfilm-Digital Scanner that would
be able to do the job, but not without some problems. Some images are exposed at different light
levels, some were difficult to read, and there were many operator adjustments
that had to be made to the equipment. I
emphasized that I wanted to capture the best quality image from the microfilm. I was told that they normally create images
at 200 pixels per inch, but I knew they had the ability to get up to 400 pixels
per inch and that's what I wanted. They
told me the files sizes would be very large and it would take longer for the
equipment to convert the film at 400 DPI, but I told them that’s' what I
wanted. With the extra setup time and
many adjustments I began to worry a little about the final cost. They told me that they would give me a resonable price and if they charged by the hour, I probably
would not be able to afford the conversion.
After waiting for about a week it was finished, and the cost was $218,
not too bad. I quickly spent the next 24
hours looking at every image and found reading errors on 42 of the images, I
also found a hand full that were not framed properly. I went back to get those corrected. They made good by fixing the bad images with
no extra charges.
Next
was the task of indexing each of the images.
This took several days, and it was not fun, believe me! I then had to group all Baptisms, Marriages,
and Deaths into their own area so they could be placed together on a single
CD. I felt that putting the all the
images or a particular type together in one group would make it easier to
use. I had a small challenge to rename
each of the 1,849 images to conform to standard which would allow them to be
mixed with the older records from 1770-1835 (the wheels in my mind were already
turning to repeat this process and merge both record sets at some point in
time). Then it was on to the creation of
the HTML files that would hold the indexes and link to every image on each
CD. I also believed that including the
microfilm roll and image numbers in the index would allow researchers to go
back to the microfilm if that was desired at some point in the future. Then it was on to burning CDs, designing and
printing labels took a little more time, and thanks to our youngest daughter
Donna, each HTML link on the CDs was tested.
With packaging, labeling, and Priority mailing, this first phase is now
complete!
As
of today, March 8, 2002 I still await the next CDs, which contain the early
years. I still have hopes that I will
have them done my mid March, but it may take until the end of March because of
a microfilming problem that some of Glogowatz researchers are probably aware
of--many entries of the early years spanned two pages across the church book,
but the filming was in odd and even page groups, some images are upside down,
and in reverse order. My challenge is to
marry up the two pages to form one image and put them into the proper
sequence. More to come…
If
you haven't read the 'ReadMe.htm' file on the Marriage CD, you can view it by
clicking on the link in the navagation panel to the
left. I have also listed more
information on each frame of the microfilm by the roll number. These roll numbers are referenced in the
index of each of the CDs. More
information will be added to the frame index later.
If
you have any questions or would like a copy of the CDs please email me at
[email protected]
Thanks
again to all of those who have contributed to this effort and a special thanks
to Dave and Erwin whose contributions to our research are priceless, and Jake Dumelle for loaning me his copy of the microfilm covering
the years from 1770-1835.