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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 18, April 29, 2001, Article 11 IN DEFENSE OF MICROFILM Granvyl G. Hulse, Jr., Librarian, Numismatics International writes: "I am going to have to come to the defense of microfilming, but I do so with some reluctance, and not for obvious reasons. I have had to do newspaper research a number of times in my life. The first that made the greatest impression on me was when I started my series on medals awarded to British soldiers during the American Revolution for ANA's The Numismatist. My first research was on the Battle of Germantown. I was in London at the time and received permission to enter the North Reading Room of the British Museum to look through their newspaper collection. I was thrilled, yet somewhat appalled. They placed in my hands bound originals almost two hundred years old. I turned the pages with great care. Found what I wanted and departed. In looking back over that adventure my though was - what if others did not turn the pages with the same care and reverence that I did and they were damaged; and, secondly, how could anyone not living in London ever see the march of history that I was able to? Not being on microfilm they would be un-available to anyone else outside of England. The second research effort occurred just recently, and I only had to go back to the early 20's. Our weekly newspaper suffered a fire about 40 years ago and all of their bound copies were destroyed. Happily for my research, copies of the paper had been sent to Concord. If it were not for their being microfilmed, the copies in Concord would never have been seen by me, or anyone else, as the paper used was such a poor grade that the library had to handle the pages like the Dead Sea Scrolls to get them filmed. If they had not been microfilmed I would never have been able to see them, and thus would not have found the information I was looking for. I hate reading microfilm with a passion, and am living for the day when the material will be transferred to CD disk for sale to the public. But the advantage of microfilm, as any genealogist who uses the Mormon libraries will tell you, is that writings and records are readily available to anyone. We can criticize the method used to microfilm, but we cannot discount its advantage. I would have to buy another fifteen room house for storage space alone if I were to maintain hard bound copies of the references I have needed for my research, and supposing I had the only copy. Like the Mona Lisa locked away in some private vault to be viewed by only the owner, it would do the rest of the world no good at all." Hulse adds: "After I had sent my earlier commentary on microfilming I looked over the sale of Ran Zander's library. The third paragraph stood out, and supports my earlier view of the importance of microfilming: WORLD-WIDE COINS OF CALIFORNIA JAMES F. ELMEN Presents THE RUSSIAN NUMISMATIC LIBRARY OF RANDOLPH ZANDER A MAIL BID SALE AND REFERENCE CATALOG Closing Date: 17 May 2001 For reading purposes, Ran found high quality bound xerox copies to be most useful, as their use eliminates the fear of damaging a rare and frequently fragile original text. This offering contains many of his "self-published" perfect bound reprints, most of which are virtually unobtainable as originals. Many of the volumes in the library contain Ran's book stamp, marginal notations and written dedications from the authors. Lots should be presumed to be used but in solid serviceable condition unless otherwise indicated in the description. Many of the items are in the Russian language and are indicated as such by have the title written first in Russian followed by an English translation"

Wayne Homren, Editor

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