American Memory | The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers
Leonard C. Bruno, Science Manuscript Historian and subject specialist in the Manuscript Division, oversaw the document selection process, provided subject-area expertise and guidance, and wrote historical contextual materials for the Web site.
Margaret Alessi Mason was responsible for the project design and production plan for digitization of the collection and coordinated the overall production of the Wright Papers scanning project. She provided specialized guidelines for the digitization of the collection (of both original materials and microfilm) and was responsible for image quality review, the deposit of delivered images into a digital repository, and the copyright permissions process. She also researched and wrote historical contextual materials for the Web site in consultation with Leonard C. Bruno.
Christopher Pohlhaus and Christopher Copetas worked on the Wright production team at different points in the project. Christopher Pohlhaus participated in the preparation of the Wright Papers for scanning and performed preliminary work on framing materials. Christopher Copetas performed a variety of tasks, including image quality review, production data management, and deposit of delivered images into a digital repository. He also carried out much of the work relating to the Wright scrapbooks. Both team members provided major support in their extensive review of items and research related to obtaining permission from copyright holders to use materials online.
Special thanks go to the staff of the Manuscript Division for their support, especially Paul Chestnut, head of the Preparation Section and Allan Teichroew and Richard Bickel, assistant heads of the Preparation Section. James Hutson, division chief; David Wigdor, assistant chief; and archivist Michael Spangler were helpful during the planning stages of the project. Special acknowledgment goes to archivist Laura Kells, who facilitated the preparation of the materials for scanning by reprocessing the entire collection and provided advice regarding content. Eveline Overmiller assisted in the mailing of copyright permissions letters and Frederick Bauman translated German documents for the copyright review process. Manuscript Division Reading Room staff also were cooperative and helpful concerning special access to the collection during scanning.
Thanks also to Tamara Swora-Gober, digital conversion projects coordinator, for providing guidance during the early planning stages of the project and Deborah Thomas, digital conversion projects coordinator, for her support during the project. Ariel Rosenblum, Barry Wheeler, and Laura Graham served as the contracting officer's technical representatives for the scanning contracts.
Other National Digital Library Program staff members provided indispensable support throughout the planning and production stages of this project. Elizabeth Madden and Christa Maher created and maintained a production database. David Brooks coordinated and tracked receipt of digital images. Tracey Salley was responsible for Web site design and final production. Andrea Matles Savada and Jurretta Jordan Heckscher copy-edited framing materials for the Web site. Abbie Grotke provided documentation and advice during different phases of the project and Michelle Adams helped with copyright permissions research.
Emily Vartanian, Office of the General Counsel, provided guidance and direction for permissions and copyright issues for the Wright Papers.
In the Conservation Office, Alan Haley and Ann Furhman supported the Wright project through their evaluation of the materials and repair work.
From Information Technology Services (ITS), Mary Ambrosio was responsible for the programming of indexing and for display of the documents. Dominic Sergi and other staff from the ITS Digital Scan Center digitized a small number of items from the Wright Papers.
Tom Crouch of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum provided additional subject-area expertise.
The scanning contractor, Systems Integration Group, Inc. (SIG), of Lanham, Maryland, produced the digital images from the original Wright Papers and Chanute Papers. Special acknowledgment goes to Imelda Chase, Arnold Goodman, Valencia Downing, and Dan Pence.
Preservation Resources, a Division of Online Computer Library Center, Inc., digitized the diaries and notebooks and the scrapbooks from six reels of Library of Congress microfilm of the Wright Papers. Special acknowledgment goes to Meg Bellinger, President of Preservation Resources, and her staff, especially Glenn Musgrave and the scanning team.
The project preparation, physical processing, cataloging, and digitization of the glass plate negatives held in the Prints and Photographs Division was coordinated and executed by David Pontarelli and Timberly Wuester. Additional Prints and Photographs Division staff that contributed are: Arden Alexander, Beverly Brannan, Donna Collins, DeAnna Evans, Mary Ison, Harry Katz, Greg Marcangelo, Phil Michel, Sarah Rouse, Woody Woodis, and Helena Zinkham. Andrew Robb from the Conservation Office repaired the most deteriorated negatives. Allison Ross and Matt Lebeda of JJT, Inc., produced the digital images.