McLean County Historical Society

The McLean County Historical Society will ensure the long-term preservation and professional management of its collection of photographic negatives documenting local history. The photographs were taken by reporters for The Pantagraph, McLean County's oldest newspaper, and the vast majority do not exist in any other format. The project will digitize and stabilize 50,000 negatives from 1940-1955. The selection of these negatives is based on a prior assessment, which identified them as high-risk for loss due to degradation. The museum will work with a digitization firm and hire two part-time employees to assist with the creation of associated metadata. The museum will also engage four interns, who will be trained in digitization procedures. As part of the project, the museum will upgrade its server space to house the new digital files and move the original negatives into onsite cold storage to minimize further degradation.