The George Washington Papers: Acknowledgements

The presentation of the George Washington Papers collection online represents the collaborative efforts of a number of individuals and divisions in the Library of Congress and other institutions. The generous support of Reuters America, Inc. and the Reuters Foundation made the realization of the project possible. Library of Congress National Digital Library Program staff collectively worked on design, digitization, programming, and presentation. The Library's Manuscript Division provided important subject expertise, and Information Technology Services Division staff provided programming. Preservation Resources, a division of Online Computer Library Center, Inc., located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, digitized the collection from microfilm, and Systems Integration Group, Inc., of Lanham, Maryland, digitized texts. The presentation of the 6-volume edition, The Diaries of George Washington, was made possible in collaboration with the University Press of Virginia and was generously facilitated by the editors of the George Washington Papers project at the University. The contributions of individuals from these divisions and institutions are detailed below.

As National Digital Library Program Liaison to the Manuscript Division, Martha Anderson initiated the George Washington Papers Project, created the technical framework, and designed the initial structure for description and access to the images. She coordinated conversion of the edition The Writings of George Washington. As Coordinator of Production for National Digital Library Program Collections she provided the George Washington Papers Project with significant technical expertise and advice throughout.

As Project Coordinator, Laura Graham provided specialized guidelines for digitization from microfilm of various Series in the George Washington Papers and wrote specifications for keying and markup of SGML text. She coordinated quality review procedures for digital images and text, directed project members in database image- and text-linking, and was responsible for overall project management and achievement of release deadlines. She researched and wrote historical contextual materials for the George Washington Papers Web site in consultation with the Manuscript Division's subject specialist, Gerard W. Gawalt.

Preservation Resources, a Division of Online Computer Library Center, Inc., digitized the George Washington Papers from Library of Congress microfilm. They performed pioneering work, and the Project benefited greatly from the expertise and enthusiastic interest of Meg Bellinger, President of Preservation Resources, and her staff, especially Lynn Wagner, Manager, New Products and Marketing, Louis Squillace and Greg LeMar, Managers, Scanning Services, and the scanning team.

Tamara Swora-Gober coordinated digitization of the George Washington Papers with Preservation Resources. She acted as liaison for the George Washington Papers Project to Preservation Resources, and provided guidance on a number of digitization and production issues. She provided technical and editorial consultation on "Building the Digital Collection," "About the Collection," and "The George Washington Papers: Provenance and Publication History."

The Contracting Officer for the microfilm scanning activity was Helen Mathura, who provided important contracts guidance and support. Kaye Klinker provided expertise in developing the agreement with the University Press of Virginia for The Diaries of George Washington.

Systems Integration Group, Inc. (SIG), of Lanham, Maryland, produced the digital images and coordinated production of the searchable text for the 6-volume edition of The Diaries of George Washington, and transcription texts from the 39-volume Writings of Washington, and the 5-volume edition of Letters to Washington. Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), of Queens, New York, produced the searchable text and SGML encoding as a subcontractor to SIG.

Gerard W. Gawalt, Manuscript Division subject specialist, wrote the essay "Creating the American Nation: Wielding the Sword and the Pen" and introductory text for "The Fairfax Resolves." He also wrote descriptive text for the Series 5, Financial Papers, browse page. He provided generous subject area expertise and guidance throughout successive releases.

Frank Grizzard Jr. generously contributed his time and expertise in providing corrections and additional information for descriptions of documents in the George Washington Papers. These derive from his work as Associate Editor of the letterpress edition The Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia.

Nancy Eichacker, Operations Manager of the National Digital Library Conversion Group, and Nancy C. Essig, Director of the University Press of Virginia, brought to a successful conclusion discussions on a collaborative online presentation on the Library of Congress's American Memory Web site of Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds., The Diaries of George Washington, 6 vols. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976-79). Coordinator of Production for National Digital Library Program Collections Martha Anderson participated in early discussions and provided technical expertise and advice throughout. Editor in Chief Philander D. Chase and Associate Editor Frank Grizzard Jr. of the letterpress edition of The Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia participated generously in the collaborative online presentation of the Diaries, the first series of that edition. Laura Graham worked with the editors on production and presentation issues and coordinated the release of the Diaries. As General Collections team leader for the National Digital Library Program, Steven C. McCollum provided expertise on the SGML and HTML presentation of the Diaries.

Jurretta Jordan Heckscher and Emily Lind Baker, National Digital Library Program Editors, copy-edited contextualizing materials and provided substantive editorial guidance throughout. Jeff Finlay copy-edited final drafts of the American Revolution section of the Time Line and the descriptive passages on the financial volumes for Series 5 for the 3rd Release.

The National Archives and Records Administration provided negative photostats of original George Washington letterbooks, which were microfilmed and digitized with the Papers collection. These are Entry 144, Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State at the National Archives. In the Papers of George Washington online they are letterbooks 28, 29, and 30 in Series 2. Digital images of positive microfilm from the National Archives replaced images of the negative format photostats in a later release.

The New York Public Library granted permission for presentation online of photostats of originals of letters to George Washington. These appear in Series 4 and are so indicated in the descriptive citation that accompanies each image. The originals of these photostats are in the George Washington Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

National Digital Library Program: George Washington Papers Project Staff

Technicians Jan Lancaster, Christopher J. Pohlhaus, and Patricia J. Gawronski and digital conversion specialist Herbert Y. Ohta all worked on the George Washington Papers in successive phases of the project. They reviewed digital images and SGML text, performed database image- and text-linking, and provided research, proof-reading, and other kinds of support throughout production.

Margaret Alessi Mason and Timothy Stutz coordinated the digitization of the Addenda to the George Washington Papers Series and the final release of the online collection. Christopher Copetas provided assistance during production.

Other National Digital Library Program Staff

Dominique Pickett and Tracey Salley were reponsible for Web site design and final production. Dominique was responsible for the first five releases, with assistance from Tracey Salley in graphics, HTML support, and substantive production work on the American Revolution section of the Time Line. Andrea Dillon furnished HTML support. Tracey Salley was responsible for all aspects of the final release including the special presentation "Introduction" to The Diaries of George Washington. The graphic richness of the site and its special presentations are due to their skills and selection of digital reproductions.

The Prints and Photographs Division provided invaluable assistance.

Elizabeth Madden provided significant expertise in designing and maintaining an image- and text-linking database. She has been responsible for revising and expanding its functions for the different series of the George Washington Papers. In addition, she acted with Martha Anderson as production liaison for the Project to staff in the Library of Congress's Information Technology Service. In this latter role, she was responsible for design and delivery of data to Information Technology Service staff for all releases.

Steve McCollum coordinated and tracked receipt of digital images and was responsible for image diagnostics. Christopher J. Pohlhaus assisted him in tracking receipt of digital images.

Credit goes to National Digital Library Program legal advisor Melissa Smith-Levine, who coordinated permissions and copyright for the George Washington Papers collection throughout successive releases, and provided guidance in the agreement with the University Press of Virginia for The George Washington Diaries.

Olena Thorne from the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress provided timely assistance in inserting links to the transcriptions in the document database.

In the Conservation Office, Alan Haley evaluated and treated the original manuscripts from the Addenda to the George Washington Papers Series.

Information Technology Services

David Woodward and Stan Lerner were responsible for the programming of indexing and for display of documents in the first release. David Woodward was responsible for programming of indexing and display of documents for all releases thereafter. The National Digital Library Program is grateful for their expertise.

The Digital Scan Center in the Information Technology Services Division at the Library of Congress digitized the forty-five original items from the Addenda to the George Washington Papers. Special acknowledgment goes to Christopher Pohlhaus, Lisa Cope, Joel Kaufman, Karl Rogers, and Domenic Sergi.