This week I tackled a stack of oversized maps I have been accumulating. In the process of digitizing documents, I have been using a flat scanner and a book scanner for the most part. The flat scanner is familiar to most people; the document is laid flat on a glass screen, the lid is shut, and the user presses go. For fragile books unable to lay flat or documents that would be damaged by being squished under the lid of a flat scanner, a book scanner is more appropriate. The book scanner lights and captures the image of the document from above, so the book or document can be propped up into a safe position to be scanned. You can see and use book scanners in the special collections reading room.
However, there are size limitations for both of these machines. For oversized documents we need to head to the photography room downstairs. The photography room has two methods of capturing large documents. The camera can be mounted on a tripod facing a magnetic whiteboard and the document can be attached to the whiteboard with a series of magnets.
This method is best for large, flat, single documents that are relatively durable. Maps, posters, and similar documents are captured best using this method. However, sometimes documents are unable to be hung up on the whiteboard. Perhaps they are very fragile and might rip with the force of gravity or perhaps they are attached to a larger volume and cannot be removed. In these cases the camera can be mounted on a large vertical arm above a table where the document can be placed. This method is similar to the book scanner, but on a larger scale.
This week I used both methods to photograph oversized maps of Southern California, in particular Ontario and the greater San Bernardino County area. A few of the maps were glued into a volume full of land deeds and folded out of the book. Because they could not be removed, I unfolded the maps on the table and photographed them from above using the vertical arm. This was difficult because a couple of these maps were huge and even the standard oversized methods had trouble capturing the entirety of the document. The vertical arm holding the camera is quite tall, and although I’m quite tall I eventually had to use a step stool to reach the camera. Even still I couldn’t capture the entirety of one of these maps! I couldn’t believe it. However, after some maneuvering I was finally able to get a clear image of the large maps.
Next I used the tripod and magnetic whiteboard to photograph some of the single maps. As you can imagine, this process is much easier and faster than using the vertical arm. After I finished photographing the maps I used software to edit, crop and convert the image into a usable document. Eventually these images will be uploaded to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Keep an eye out for these maps, as some of them are quite intricate!