PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

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

Google
 
coinbooks.org Web
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum
Copyright © 2005 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE


Copyright © 1998 - 2005 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster