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Follow on Google News | Crowley Imaging, Free Library Partner on Historic Daybook Digitization for Preservation WeekTo celebrate the American Library Association’s annual Preservation Week (April 24-30), The Crowley Company partnered with Frederick County Library to digitize an item of choice pro bono.
By: The Crowley Company To celebrate the American Library Association’ ABOUT PRESERVATION WEEK Preservation Week was created to recognize the critical role libraries play in preservation and is brought about through a partnership of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, the Library of Congress and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Patrick Crowley, vice president and company owner with his brother, Christopher, notes, “Preservation Week provides the perfect opportunity to partner with The C. Burr Artz Library. Frederick has a rich and storied history and this diary is the type of archive material that is both educational and interesting to a wide audience.” WHO WAS MARGARET ARTZ? According to Mannix, the facts surrounding Margaret Catherine Thomas Artz are few and invite speculation. She was born the second youngest of five children in 1815. Her father, Michael, was a prosperous Frederick County farmer and her mother, Margaret (nee Ogle), was a descendant of two Maryland governors. Descended from Hans Michael Thomas, who emigrated from Bavaria in 1730, Margaret was one of the “German Thomas’.” She married late, at the age of 30, to 44-year-old well-known farmer and tax assessor, Christian Burr (C. Burr) Artz, bearing one daughter, Victorine. A wealthy woman in her own right, she received 45 acres of land and $1500 when her father passed in 1848 and also purchased nearly 30,000 acres in her own name in Ogle County, Illinois. In 1867, the family moved to Chicago to take advantage of real estate and property purchases (most likely in conjunction with homesteading Artz relatives) that were quickly becoming profitable due to a location on Chicago’s first rail line. C. Burr, Margaret and Victorine are all buried in Chicago. THE BEQUEATH According to an undated Frederick Republic Citizen Newspaper article recounting the financial success of C. Burr Artz in Chicago, “If he lives a few years, he will become a millionaire.” ABOUT THE DIARY Written on the inside of the 4”x13” journal is “1867-25 July, left Frederick for Chicago.” The brown ink in the 144 year-old diary is still legible, although the pages are yellowing and flaking in several sections. The first few pages of the book turn easily, but the aged binding prevents a thorough search of many of the following pages. A large, hand-written alphabet letter at the top of each page early in the journal seems to indicate that Margaret had intentions of alphabetizing her recipes. Later in the book, there is no such organization and each page reveals a different domestic skill, such as restoring velvet and curing sleeplessness (with the notation “to make you sleep so says Mary Coope”). Margaret’s “Cure for Inflamitory [sic] Rheumatism” from Fannie Adams includes one pint of whiskey mixed with herbs that should “be swallowed every hour of the day.” In addition to recipes for breads, preserves and confections, there is information on making dyes, soaps, stain removers, alcohol and crystalotypes (a type of glass photo). Mixed in are handwritten accounts of real estate transactions and newspaper clippings of business and social events and news, primarily from their time in Chicago. “This daybook gives us a sense of who Margaret Artz was and portrays the many roles played by a lady of the house during the late 1800’s,” says Mannix, who holds several degrees including a Masters of Library Science with an archival concentration from the University of Maryland and a Masters in American History with a certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Delaware. “It’s easy to overlook the importance of these everyday matters when compared to the events and archived materials that have shaped our nation. This book gives us insight into women’s history – Margaret was certainly wealthy independent of her spouse – and also shows how food and other home roles have changed over the last 150 years.” As to Artz’ legacy, Mannix notes, “Margaret Thomas Artz was a product of her upbringing. Raised in the upper-middle class, charity was most likely a constant part of her household management. It makes sense that she would use her fortune to create a legacy of education for all peoples. We’re particularly glad that she chose to remember Frederick in this manner.” ABOUT THE DIGITIZATION PROCESS The Crowley Company scanned the diary in its 18,000 SF service bureau on a Zeutschel OS12000, an overhead planetary tabletop scanner created specifically for bound originals. The fragility of the Artz daybook dictated that each page be scanned manually. Crowley imaging specialist Gloria Mercer held the diary at varying angles depending on the strength of the spine at each page to get the best image with the least amount of stress to the book. Also to be taken into consideration is the fact that the handwriting, while even, sometimes wandered into the page margin. The Zeutschel system’s Perfect Book 3-D scan technology eliminates book curvature and created clean scans. The daybook was scanned in 36-bit color (24-bit output) to maintain the aged feel of the book. Final output was image-only pdf’s at 300-400 dpi, burned to a DVD and given to the C.Burr Artz Library for online research and creation of an e-book. About The Crowley Company The Crowley Company is a world-leader in digital conversion and analog film technologies. Headquartered in Frederick, Maryland with a manufacturing division in San Dimas, California, The Crowley Company provides an extensive number of digital document and film conversion services to the academic, publishing, commercial, government and archive sectors. Crowley also manufactures, distributes and services high-speed microfilm, microfiche, aperture card, book and document scanners, microfilm duplicators, film processors and micrographics equipment. End
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