Museum documents to be digitally preserved

Digital Scanning of Museum Documents

The Kansas City Public Library’s plans for a new research website continue to move forward.  The project, “Missouri-Kansas Conflict:  Civil War on the Western Missouri Border 1854-1865” is now in the second phase and onsite scanning of documents to be included on the website has begun.  On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, Hannah Ballard, Project Coordinator, Kansas City Public Library, and Heather Richmond, Digital Collections Coordinator, Missouri State Library, Jefferson City, visited the Bates County Museum to scan several documents that had previously been selected for use in the website. 

The Museum’s collection of artifacts dating to the Civil War include an 1856 letter discussing the politics of the day (from Charles Adams to Michael Jose), 1862 letter referring to Quantrill being in Bates County (from S. A. Routsong to his wife) and a Loyalty Oath signed at the end of the war during the surrender in Shreveport (John Armentrout).  Also included is the Abram Lewis diary (December 1861 – March 1862) and a photo of Jesse Connell who served as a delegate in the first Lecompton (KS) Constitutional Convention.  Jesse Connell moved to Bates County following the war and is the great, great, great Grandfather of Donna Gregory.  In addition the West Point Plat Map currently being restored by the Missouri State Archives will also be included.  The Archives will forward a scanned copy of the map upon completion of the restoration.  The original map will then be returned to the Museum. 

Most documents are scanned onsite; however, oversized or bound documents will be hand-carried by Hannah Ballard to Lawrence, Kansas for scanning with specialized equipment by an outside vendor. The documents are then returned to the site of origin.

The Museum is working in partnership with many other western Missouri organizations in providing information for the website.  This project will  compliment the Greene County Library’s Civil War Website, which served as the example of what could be accomplished and proved the need for such an in depth research site.  The website is scheduled to be completed by 2013.