Hello Lenora,
That's a tough one! It really depends on the number you have. I would ask a friendly librarian (public or academic) for some input/assistance to see what they would do in that situation. Then I would formalize an editorial process as per your collection policy and then check/organize the slide collection for duplicates, relevancy, subject matter. As you have been doing, you can scan the relevant ones for your organization (though you need to be sure that your computer back up is stable-personal experience speaking here). This should reduce down the number (hopefully). Slide storage takes up a lot of space and they deteriorate surprisingly quickly. I would also interview informally any retiring long term staff or volunteers, its institutional memory after all and can be part of the record. Once this process is done, you have a handy list to offer to interested local historical societies or libraries, if that is the path you choose.
At Lefferts in the late1990s, due to space and storage issues, we ended up donating, with loan privileges, much of our archive to the local historical society. They got a large grant to put the information on-line and it creates a larger audience for our archives then if we had kept them. Additionally, these resources are now protected for future generations.
Hope that helps,
Best
Tania
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Tania Batley
Curator
Lefferts Historic House
Brooklyn, NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-11-2017 04:29 PM
From: Lenora Costa
Subject: What do you do with your old slides?
Hello -
I work in a small house and garden museum that has been open since the late 60s where a fair number of the employees have been here for 30+ years. As people are retiring and offices shuffle I have become the owner of a variety of items including slide presentations, complete in carousels, and large format negatives. I love slides and we still have several working slide projectors but as the bulbs go and less people are aware of how to use them I am curious how best to maintain the information within.
Obviously, I can scan them so it is easier to use the images right away but what do I do with the slides themselves when I have 15 copies of the same image? Keep one or two and dispose of the rest? Does anyone know of a use for old slides? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you
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Lenora Costa
Curator
Longue Vue House & Gardens
New Orleans LA
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