Purpose: To preserve as many old Dodge-Family Documents as possible. These would include everything from land deeds, to certificates of birth, death, marriage, war records, etc.
Usually when documents are discovered, they are not in the best of condition. In the years since these old documents were originated, they have been stashed away in attics, stowed in boxes in damp cellars, and otherwise hidden.
A few years ago, the Dodge Family Association was able to purchase 39 such documents. With the new technology available now, including very cheap storage on CD-ROMs, we felt that this is the time to start our preservation project.
We have already finished 2 CDs which contain
these 39 documents. We scanned them in color at 600-dpi
resolution in order to preserve as much information as
possible so that the original appearance would be
preserved. These CDs are now in our historical archive
for the use of future generations.
Future scans will be done using the same protocol, scanning at 600dpi and in color so that the documents are as readable as possible. Large file sizes are not considered to be a negative factor worth considering, because data storage will continue to decrease in cost. The scanned files will be in JPEG format with only mild compression (Adobe PhotoShop compression setting of 7).
With pages that are too large to be scanned in one pass on the scanner,the top half of the page will be scanned, and then the bottom half will be scanned with overlap. These pages will be reassembled with an editing program.
In many cases, the backs of documents only have a title or just a few lines or maybe some later notes, however, we will scan the entire page to preserve the interest and integrity of the document, so nobody will ask: Where is the rest of the page?
Whenever a connection is made between a document and person mentioned in one of our genealogy books, that connection will be noted in an accompanying file that will reference the preserved document.
How will we acquire more of these valuable records? Probably, only as people who want to see their old documents preserved and shared lend them to us. In all cases, we will return to the sender the document(s) that they have sent us, but the record will be burned into a CD-ROM for preservation so that future Dodge generations will be able to access them. Thus, if the paper becomes lost due to fire, flood, or any other means, the RECORD will STILL be there.
We would urge anyone who has old documents, certificates, letters, that they wish to be saved for those future Dodge generations, PLEASE send them to us for preservation. We will be exceedingly careful of them and will try our best to have a limited turn around time.
Please send any information, stories, etc. that you have that pertains to the documents you are providing. That information, story, etc, will be transcribed into MSWord and will be stored on the CD also.
MEMBERS of the Dodge Family Association: If you wish to have a copy of the CD containing the scanned documents that you send to us, there will be a charge of $10.00 per CD, postage included.
When you get ready to mail us your documents, please package them carefully in a sturdy box, (not an envelope) so that the pages will not get damaged. Remember that there are multiple choices in mailing services. Choose the one with which you are most comfortable.
If you wish to contact me BEFORE you send any such items, I will be most happy to hear from you. Also, IF I know approximately how much you want to send, size of documents, etc., I can probably give you some idea as to time involved in doing the job and returning those documents back to you.
NON-MEMBERS: There will be a charge of $2.00 to $5.00 per document, depending upon the size and number of pages, for those who are NOT members of the Dodge Family Association. A copy of the CD containing YOUR documents will be the same: $10.00 per CD, postage included.. Please feel free to contact us.