Microfilms
|
Microfilms are films that contain black and white
micro-reproductions of records. They are usually stored on reels
containing hundreds of images and are usually viewed
amplified on a monitor or a specially-designed projector.
There are two ways I can copy pages from microfilms quickly: Digital photographs can be made from microfilm images projected onto a microfilm reader's monitor screen, but these usually require some post-photography processing in Photoshop Lightroom or another program before viewing or printing. These can later be converted to PDF or any other format and posted to a website for the client to download quickly. Photocopies of varying quality can be made from the images on the monitor using a machine with an attached photocopier at 50 cents per page. These can then be scanned at home with a flatbed scanner/feeder combo and then posted to the Internet. By far, the best quality microfilm images are produced by digitizing microfilms directly on a machine specifically designed to do that - the output being stored to a thumb drive. The Library of Congress has these devices available for use by researchers. The National Archives in College Park, Maryland possesses such devices - however, these machines are not made available to researchers for reasons that remain unclear. For a comparison between the results of digitally-copied, camera-copied and photocopied microfilms, please click here. Unfortunately, microfilms at the National Archives can be digitized by that institution only. The former involves copying the whole microfilm onto a on to DVD or another microfilm. This provides the best images, which can be printed out on any computer/printer combination. The drawbacks are that it costs the client over $100.00 per DVD copy. If the client has plenty of time and can identify the correct microfilm to be copied, this is by far the best option. A link to NARA microfilm order form can be found here. The Library of Congress offers prints from microfilms, but it is a complicated process partially described here. In this case it may be better all around to photograph, photocopy or make digital copies of these microfilms as described above. I can usually find and process records from microfilms to PDF files in a single day. |