How to Scan Old Kirksville Documents Without Damaging the Originals

The scanner should adapt to the document.

The document should not be forced to adapt to the scanner.

That principle prevents a lot of avoidable damage.

Inspect the object first

Look for:

• brittleness;
• tears;
• folds;
• tape or adhesive;
• mold;
• water damage;
• flaking ink;
• binding;
• oversized pages;
• seals or embossing.

If the object is fragile, lower-contact capture is usually safer than trying to make it perfectly flat.

Handle paper carefully

Use a clean, uncluttered work area.

For most ordinary paper, clean dry hands are appropriate.

Avoid:

• food and drink;
• rubber bands;
• paper clips;
• office tape;
• sticky notes;
• unnecessary marking.

Do not “repair” a historic document with transparent tape before scanning it.

Use a flatbed only when the object tolerates it

A flatbed works well for stable loose sheets that fit comfortably on the glass.

Do not force an oversized document under the lid.

Pressure can crease, crack or distort fragile material.

Keep fragile originals out of automatic feeders

An automatic document feeder is convenient for modern office paper.

It is a poor choice for weak, bent, brittle or valuable originals.

A jam can turn a preservation project into a tear.

Use manual or overhead capture instead.

Bound material needs support

Books, scrapbooks and registers should not be forced flat.

Use a camera copy stand or overhead setup when the binding cannot safely open to the scanner plane.

Support the book with wedges or a cradle when needed.

Do not remove foldouts or cut bindings merely to make scanning easier.

Oversized material needs a different method

Maps, newspapers and large certificates may require:

• overhead camera;
• professional large-format scanner;
• carefully planned overlapping captures.

Do not fold a large archival map to fit a household scanner.

Capture enough detail

There is no single magical DPI value for every historic object.

Capture enough detail to preserve:

• smallest meaningful text;
• handwriting;
• seals;
• marginal notes;
• faint markings.

FADGI guidance treats digitization quality as an object- and performance-based problem rather than a one-number rule.

Use color when color carries evidence

Even documents that appear mostly black and white can contain meaningful:

• ink differences;
• pencil;
• stamps;
• toning;
• stains;
• paper color.

A hard black-and-white threshold can erase faint information.

Keep a preservation master

The master should preserve the complete object with minimal processing.

Do not crop away edges, notes or evidence simply because the page looks cleaner without them.

Create derivatives for:

• deskewing;
• contrast;
• compressed PDF;
• OCR;
• web use.

Keep the master separate.

Scan backs when they contain evidence

The reverse side may contain:

• address;
• docketing;
• handwritten notes;
• stamps;
• ownership marks.

Front and back should share a stable item ID.

Treat OCR as an access tool

OCR can make typed documents searchable.

It is not authoritative transcription.

Old typefaces, newspaper columns and damaged pages can produce bad recognition.

Keep the original image and the OCR layer separately.

Record metadata

Useful fields include:

• item ID;
• title;
• creator;
• date;
• people;
• place;
• source;
• physical format;
• scan date;
• rights;
• notes.

That metadata is what turns a folder of scans into a usable archive.

Preserve the original after scanning

Digitization supplements the original.

It does not make the original disposable.

Store physical material in a cool, dry, stable location using appropriate archival enclosures when practical.

For organizing related photographs and documents, see How to Build a Searchable Digital Archive of Your Kirksville Family History.