This week Matt and I scanned the 1952-1953 scrapbook, which definitely took less time than the first book- we were able to scan the whole thing in one day! Most of the book, about 70-ish pages, were just empty, but the pages that were used (about 20) were filled with football advertisements and photos. There were a lot of inserts about games from that year’s season and descriptions about the team members that were photographed. From what we saw, there was no name or signature on the cover or binding so I’m not sure who owned the scrapbook or if it was made by the same woman who made the previous scrapbook. Given this book had more of a theme/focus than the book from the 40s, it might be a different author.
One of the most difficult aspects of scanning this book (and the previous book) was trying to keep the book open without tearing the pages from the binding. Most of the early scrapbooks are bound with 3 “rings” of string, which places a lot of pressure on the pages the further you get into the book. We tried minimizing damage by lowering the book cradle so there was more space for the book beneath the glass while still keeping the pages open, but a lot of the pages still ended up tearing away from the binding as we were taking photos. Luckily, the pages on this book were much less fragile than the pages in the 1947 scrapbook. There also weren’t any booklets or pamphlets so we didn’t have to keep the pages under the pressure of the cradle for an extended period of time.
For our next meeting, Matt and I are going to the library to work on editing the scans we took and also begin the metadata for the 1947 book. This is my first time writing metadata and to be completely honest it looks very confusing! I’ve looked over the history department’s examples of metadata sheets in addition to the metadata sheets that were written last semester for the Howard project, but I’m still worried about starting everything and realizing I did something wrong, specifically the key words and descriptions. I’m sure once I get into the rhythm of writing everything it’ll become a lot easier! I know this is going to be a very valuable skillset to have going into the public history field so I’m glad to get experience now.
-Kelsey R.