We move with the times / We want to improve // We invest in technology // …
“Yes, if I had access to the extensive family records in the archive, I could answer your query better. I will try to research the family records during my next visit to the archive in five months.”
This is how enquiries to the Schrader Family Association sometimes end. Unfortunately, the archive is 600 km away and the possibilities for research there are limited, if only for reasons of time.
So what could be more obvious than bringing selected archive material closer to the archivist?
Modern technology offers solutions for this.
The family association receives an average of 10 enquiries per year, and it is our aim to research these as thoroughly as possible and provide qualified information.
Currently, I have immediate access to all the communication booklets produced in 100 years of research and the associated place and name registers.
However, I do not have access to our extensive archive, which includes genealogical literature as well as an extensive collection of family records and primary and secondary sources.
We intend to overcome this hurdle with a small technical improvement – the purchase of a document scanner.
Then we can use future work stays in the archive for the electronic indexing of files and literature.
The scanned documents are uploaded to the existing archive server, catalogued and, where possible, indexed according to content.
This is no trivial matter when it comes to manuscripts and blackletter fonts, but it will gradually improve our ability to provide information and at the same time contribute to the preservation of many fragile documents.