The Himalayan Database

Carleen DekarskiIn the news

I have previously written about Elizabeth Hawley who had a lifelong career of cataloging climbs in the Himalayas. She passed in January 2018 but her legacy continues. The database, and the website hosting it, is not particularly sophisticated but the legends listed in here, those still here and those since …

To scan or not to scan - the art of longevity

To scan or not to scan – the art of longevity

Carleen DekarskiManaging archives

Things to consider when scanning archival documents First off let’s distinguish the difference between digital and digitised. Digital refers to the object being “born” digital in the first instance. For example a photograph taken on a digital camera, a document created in a word processing system. A digital object is a product …

Mangaōkewa Gorge - preservation for all

Mangaōkewa Gorge – preservation for all

Carleen DekarskiUsing archives

Lately my husband and I have been ticking off a visit list around our ‘local’ area for climbing crags. Finding up to date information on climbing crags in the Central North Island was getting frustrating. With this in mind, we decided to visit the crags personally and find out how …

You plan and plan and then

You plan and plan and then….

Carleen DekarskiManaging archives

I have previously completed a post entitled ‘When disaster strikes – Disaster Recovery Planning’ which you can find here. The purpose of the article was to walk you through a live event that I had experienced. Well, I hate to say it, but here is another to peruse. This time …

The Curse of Oak Island

The Curse of Oak Island

Carleen DekarskiUsing archives

Archives and treasure? It has to be many people’s dream to go on an adventurous trip to a far away land in search of secret treasure? No? Just me? Surely not. The Curse of Oak Island follows the life long dream of Rick and Marty Lagina as they search to …

The art of context

The art of context

Carleen DekarskiIn the news

I recently visited a friend who was keen to show me a collection of newspaper clippings. The clippings were not particularly old, 2001. They were nicely framed up and covered the historical accounts of a bombing raid during World War 1. The papers were a special edition memorial about a particular …

Secrets and Treasures

Secrets and Treasures – book review

Carleen DekarskiIn the news

I recently picked up the book “Secrets & Treasures” by Ray Waru. Published in 2012 it tells the stories of NZ through the objects held by Archives New Zealand. Archives New Zealand manages over 6,000,000 records dating from the beginning of British Government to present day. They are the official guardians …

The art of community transcription

The art of community transcription

Carleen DekarskiUsing archives

Must first “rodeo” – a Transcribe-a-thon While on holiday in Sydney I had an opportunity to be a part of a community transcribing event at the State Library NSW. Aptly named a “Transcribe-a-thon”. Over 8000 pages of letters, diaries, sketches and journals in the Sir Joseph Banks collection have been …

Sharing skills to spread the message

Sharing skills to spread the message

Carleen DekarskiTheory in action

Recently our local Museum and the council Archive conducted some free workshops. I presented on caring for your paper treasures titled “Treasures from the garage”.  Often in my role as an Archivist I come across people that have interesting collections of “stuff” but no idea how to care for them. …