My name is Sally and I'm a professional archivist based in Wisconsin. I am also a (very) amateur Photoshop user and these forums have been such a help. Thank you!

A little about my background: I have a BA in History and Anthropology, and an MA in Library/Archives. I've been fascinated with photography since I was a young girl with a junky little Instamatic camera. While I help my clients with treasures of all kinds -- it's the photographs that really "call" to me.

Anyhoo....

I write and publish a free monthly eZine called "Ask the Archivist" which I think would interest some of you. Each issue contains expert archival advice written specifically for the non-archivist.

Topics so far:


Salvaging wet photographs
Disaster planning and prevention
When photos are stuck
Mold (you can also read my posting about mold here on RetouchPro)
Preserving digital files


Subscribing is super easy on my webpage: http://www.jacobsarchival.com

Unfortunately, I don't yet have the archive of articles up on my website. But if any of these topics interests you just drop me a quick email and I'll forward you a copy.

My best to all of you, and thanks for this incredible resource!!

Warmly,
Sally

P.S. In January I am sending out a free report on preserving digital files. If you are interested, be sure to check the "Digital Preservation" box in the interest categories when you sign up!

So interesting, Sally!
I have now subscribed to the eZine and read just about everything on (and off) the site.

One of my interests is exactly in watching the future unfold. I am a regular reader at Ray Kurzweil's site (http://www.kurzweilai.net) . Even if the "positive feedback increases order exponentially" theory and the ensuing "Singularity" may seem too far-fetched for most - it's increasingly difficult to deny that there's some (a lot of) truth there.

The idea that it's easier for a thousand-year-old manuscript to survive another thousand years than for your CD see out this decade rings so very true.

Thank you.

Rô

Have you ever read "A Canticle for Leibovitz" by Walter Miller? Here's the summary from Amazon.com:


Walter M. Miller's acclaimed SF classic A Canticle for Leibowitz opens with the accidental excavation of a holy artifact: a creased, brittle memo scrawled by the hand of the blessed Saint Leibowitz, that reads: "Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels--bring home for Emma." To the Brothers of Saint Leibowitz, this sacred shopping list penned by an obscure, 20th-century engineer is a symbol of hope from the distant past, from before the Simplification, the fiery atomic holocaust that plunged the earth into darkness and ignorance. --Paul Hughes