Digitizing the original screen-used newspaper prop from “Back to the Future”

One of the best parts about working here is that we get to see cool stuff every week, and we recently completed another really neat project. Creekside Digital was selected to digitize the original screen-used Hill Valley Telegraph newspaper prop from the movie “Back to the Future” that Michael J. Fox’s character pulls out of a trash can upon his arrival in 1955 to confirm that he has indeed traveled back in time.

The original newspaper is shown here being captured on our i2S CopiBook HD600 overhead scanner. This equipment allows us to capture items up to 17″ x 25″ quickly and at a very high level of quality, and we use it to shoot quite a number of newspapers, manuscripts, scrapbooks, ledgers, photographs, and other loose and bound items. In addition to the digitization, Creekside Digital was asked to manually retouch out all of the flaws in the images such as wrinkles and yellowing. Soon, pristine reproduction copies of this prop will be available for sale, with proceeds benefiting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

The paper as held by Michael J. Fox in “Back to the Future”

Win this museum-grade reproduction at PaLA!

On July 15, 1863, Matthew Brady and his photographic outfit captured this iconic image of three unnamed Confederate prisoners of war. Taken on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just a few hundred yards from both General Lee’s headquarters and the Lutheran Theological Seminary, this photograph is acknowledged to be one of the finest records of Confederate uniforms ever recorded during the American Civil War. We will be pleased to award this museum-grade reproduction to one lucky librarian who visits our booth at the Pennsylvania Librarian Association Annual Conference – October 1-2, 2012, at Gettysburg PA.

Creekside Digital created a composite uncompressed TIFF master file from the left and right halves of high-resolution scans of the original stereo glass plate negatives (Library of Congress Call Number LC-B811-2288) using the clearest, most-detailed and least-damaged portions of the source images. The composite was then expertly retouched to remove dust, tape, emulsion scratches, and other flaws present in the original image, requiring many hours of manual work. In order to maximize the both D-Max (darkness of black) and overall tonal dynamic range present in the final print, we selected Hahnemühle’s FineArt Baryta paper for use with our 12-color pigment ink reproduction process (using four separate shades of black and gray). This 325 g/sm paper uses barium sulphate in its coating to emulate the look, feel, and depth of black & white prints made using traditional darkroom processes. Multiple proofing strips were run and adjustments made to ensure that subtleties such as shadow detail and folds and creases in the uniforms were retained in various parts of the composite while retaining D-Max and an overall balanced, pleasing contrast. If properly cared for, this archival print will last for over 150 years without fading.

Original, unretouched left and right glass plate negative halves

Finally, the printed image was mounted, double-matted, and custom-framed using quality, acid-free Larson Juhl materials. Creekside Digital is able to create such custom, museum-grade reproductions from items in digital collections, on demand and at any volume, and frame and ship them anywhere in the world.

Official Press Release (133KB PDF)

Glen Arm, MD – March 13, 2012 — Creekside Digital, a leading provider of high-quality digitization services, is pleased to announce a partnership with OCLC to assist with the creation of digital collections using OCLC’s CONTENTdm software.

Leveraging its internal software expertise, Creekside Digital will work with libraries, archives, and other institutional customers to plan, develop, and implement their digital collections using OCLC’s CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management software, which is currently used by over 2,000 organizations worldwide. The partnership allows Creekside Digital to develop digital collections using CONTENTdm and assist OCLC’s customers with making their completed digital collections available on the Internet, thereby increasing access and aiding in the preservation of original materials.

Additionally, Creekside Digital has significant digitization capabilities and has successfully delivered millions of images to library and institutional customers across the United States. This enables the company to work with CONTENTdm licensees to deliver entire projects, from initial planning through imaging, metadata creation, and ultimately online presentation, while performing all of the work in-house and directly conducting every step of the quality assurance process. “In today’s Internet-centric world, providing high-quality imaging services isn’t enough anymore. Our library customers are seeking to bring more digitized content online than ever before, and our new partnership with OCLC allows us to help them achieve that goal,” said Jim Studnicki, President of Creekside Digital.

About Creekside Digital
Founded in 2006, Creekside Digital of Glen Arm, MD specializes in providing archival-quality digitization of microfilm, bound and oversized books, maps, newspapers, manuscripts, and fine artwork, as well as supporting software services and the creation of museum-grade print reproductions for libraries, archives, and institutions. For more information, visit www.creeksidedigital.com.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories around the world have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

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Also, we’re about four weeks away from our frame shop’s official “grand opening” event.  Expect special, limited-time discounts on our custom framing services, and maybe some other goodies as well!

– Jim and the team at Creekside Digital

• There is a tremendous variation in the weights and thicknesses of available substrates. The lightest paper we carry is Moab’s Japanese Washi Unryu translucent mulberry paper at 55 g/sm, while Hahnemühle’s Photo Rag 500 weighs in at, well, 500 g/sm — pretty much a heavy-duty cotton rag cardstock.
• The presence of (or lack thereof) of Optical Brightening Agents, or OBAs, is readily visible in each substrate’s swatch. “Natural” papers appear gray in the screen; those with OBAs appear to take on a purplish hue. The more purple the appearance of the swatch, the brighter-white the substrate and the higher the OBA content.

We’ll be continuing to add to and maintain this database, and enhance its capabilities to allow for even more powerful filtering and sorting. In the meantime, your feedback is appreciated.

– Jim and the team at Creekside Digital

We are pleased to be an official sponsor of the LYRASIS 2011 Annual Member Meeting.  We’re now in the second year of our partnership with LYRASIS, whose Mass Digitization Collaborative Program has allowed us to deliver terabytes of data and millions of files digitized from microfilm to LYRASIS member institutions nationwide.  Now more than ever, it’s critical that libraries make the most of their resources, and LYRASIS helps them do just that.

eGathering 2011: the LYRASIS Annual Member Meeting
Attend either online or in-person
Date: November 9
Time: 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. ET
Cost: FREE
Place: Members can attend either online or in-person at one of six Member Community Site locations or host a group at their location – Click here for more information

Don’t miss it!

– Jim and the team at Creekside Digital

This price reduction is the result of new improvements to our scanning technology and workflow which allow us to process microfilm more efficiently; hence, we’re able to pass some of these savings onto our customers while keeping quality at the highest levels possible. Creekside Digital QA’s and guarantees 100% of the images we ship, with no exceptions — including our Small Microfilm Orders at this new reduced pricing.

Happy Halloween!

– Jim and the team at Creekside Digital

I wanted to pass along this email from one of our new fine art reproduction customers, with her permission:

Hello Jim:

I just received the 8×10 proof “Lakeside Chapel.”  I cannot tell you how very pleased I am, except to say I am overjoyed with the job you guys did!  This is the quality of work I have been looking for for the past 6 months to no avail.

I am so happy I found your website.  Thank you so very much.

We scanned her original 20×24 oil painting using our BetterLight Super 8k system, color-matched it to near perfection, and printed / sealed  a proof to canvas media for her.  Now we’re in the process of printing several full-size and smaller prints of the work, and she’s getting ready to send us additional (larger) paintings.  Pictures soon!

– Jim and the team at Creekside Digital