The Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin County Regional Library iscurrently working on scanning old photographs into a digital formatand posting them online.

 

    The two collections undergoing the process are the J. H. WilliamsCollection from the Art Studio and the Jackson Collection.

    Billie Smith, the librarian in charge of the project, said theprocess is important to preserve the history of the area.

    “They need to be digitized because they are mostly negatives thatare deteriorating,” she said. “This a permanent format.”

    The Art Studio Collection includes pictures from the early 1940s tothe early 1970s. Smith said the photographs are mostly ofBrookhaven events and early places.

    “The Art Studio really tells the history of Brookhaven,” shesaid.

    Smith said there was a picture of what seems to be a town Halloweenparty because downtown is full of kids in the photo. She said awoman also was able to find her son’s wedding pictures in thecollection. Smith was able to make a copy and the woman was able togive it to her son for Christmas.

    Jennifer Jackson donated the Jackson Collection, which belonged toher father. Smith said this collection has more school and familypictures and is more personal. This collection was donatedapproximately a year ago and is much newer. This collection iscurrently still being sorted by Smith and has not entered thescanning stage.

    Smith said at the end of every month she uploads everything she hasscanned to the library’s Flikr account.

    To view these pictures, visit www.flikr.com and log in or make anaccount. In the top bar under groups, select “search for groups”and search “Lincoln County Public Library.” Selecting the Library’sgroup will take the user to the entire Internet collection. Thecollection currently has over 2,000 photos uploaded.

    Jmith said the public is also welcome to visit the library and gothrough the files there. Smith said she is available anytime Mondaythrough Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but she prefers for people tocall a day in advance to set up an appointment. The photos that areavailable for public viewing right now are those in the Art StudioCollection.

    Smith said the library is also working towards identifying as manyphotographs as possible. There is a email address on the Flikraccount for anyone to submit information. Also, the pictures run inthe Reflections Section of The DAILY LEADER.

    Ultimately, the library would like to be able to find picturesbased on name. Smith said if someone calls looking for an obituaryrequest, she would like to provide that person with any photos thatare related.

    Smith said if someone finds a photo they would like, she can scanthe originals and print the photo for a small fee.

    The project was initiated by a federal Library Services andTechnology Act grant, which allowed for the purchase of newcomputers and software to scan and digitize the negatives. Anothergrant allowed 200 photographs to be digitized for the library.

    For more information on the collection, visitllf.lib.ms.us/index.htm.