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1. Plans of the fort in Mainz City Archives
Mainz history books are filled with story after story about
military exploits in the area. As early as the 12th and 13th
century B.C, a legionary depot was built in the Kästrich
area of the old town. This served as a foundation for the later
town. Between 1620 and 1918 Mainz was a fortified town with
its own garrison. During this 300 year period, four different
fortification lines were built, starting with the city ramparts,
then the baroque fortress, the military camp belonging to the ‘Bundesfestung’ (Federal
Fort), and finally the modern bunkers of the early 20th century.
‘Mainz and the military’ flows off the tongue
like a fixed term, as captured by Goethe when he stated that, “The
inhabitant of Mainz shall not seek to deny himself, that
he for time everlasting resides in a military outpost: old
and new ruins remind him of this.”
But it is not just the “old and new ruins” – referring
to the more or less intact architectural memorials of the
city’s military history – that are reminiscent
of the city’s past. There are also the plans of the
old fort, handed on by previous generations and now kept
in the picture and plans collection in Mainz city archives.
These date back to the days of the ‘Plankammer’ (the
planning chambers at the fort of the French and the electoral
prince), the Federal Fort (1815-1866), the Prussian Fort
(1866-1873) and the Mainz fort of the German Reich (until
1919). The older plans were kept in the normal inventory
of plans, but the 19th century fort plans are still to be
found in numbered files in keeping with the original system.
In total there are around 2500 plans captured in a special
directory, which is largely based on the directory kept by
the fortification authorities. This inventory of plans is
invaluable for people carrying out research, especially historians,
town planning experts and architects, who are often charged
with municipal renovation projects, issues relating to preservation
orders, the conservation of historic monuments, and even
reclamation projects on old military land.
But the frequent rounds of research have started to leave
their mark. Nearly half the plans have been badly damaged
so it would be irresponsible to make these available to more
researchers, for preservation reasons. Some plans have been
torn, others have fold marks. Some are so badly tattered
that they resemble a jigsaw puzzle rather than a valuable
source of historical data.
The recent growth in interest in preserving old military
buildings, as witnessed by bodies such as the non-profit
organisation ‘Initiative Zitadelle Mainz e.V’,
acts as a catalyst not only to preserve bricks and mortar
from Mainz’s history for posterity, but also those
on paper.
2. The project
In cooperation with two companies, Cruse from Rheinbach and
Fotolabor M from Stuttgart, the city archives embarked on
a pilot project aimed at safeguarding a significant proportion
of the old fort plans. Simultaneously, it was planned for
the first time to use a new process for creating long-term
archives using complex digital imaging on microfiche.
As part of a sponsorship deal, for four months the Rheinbach-based
company Cruse bore the costs of a large format DIN A0 scanner
which was lent to the city archives to scan in the most historically
important fort plans, or at least those in greatest need
of preservation. The scans were then stored temporarily as
TIF files on DVDs before forwarding to Fotolabor M in Stuttgart.
Here they were transferred onto premium quality Ilford micrographic
film using an RGB colour laser. In this format they are ideal
for long-term archiving purposes.
The TIF files were then
converted into JPEGs and burnt onto DVDs to present in the
reading rooms at the city archives. As a result, the scanned
plans can now be looked after carefully while people access
digital images via computer. As part of the project the valuable
originals were placed in acid-free folders and re-archived
(according to a different formatting criteria) to shield
them from further damage.
As things currently stand, it is not possible to restore
plans that have already been damaged. Restoring the rest
would cost between 500 and 800 euros each. The current assumption
is that at least 500 plans are in need of urgent restoration
but given current budget restraints it would have been completely
unrealistic to ask for more than € 250,000 from municipal
funds.
Therefore the only feasible option to safeguard content in
its current condition was to digitise only parts of the fort
plans.
3. The city archives’ project partners
Cruse GmbH, Rheinbach
Cruse is a Rheinbach-based manufacturer of large format
high performance scanners.
The single most important feature of these scanners is ‘synchronised
light technology’ offered by its CS-SL series of scanners.
Thanks to this technology, CRUSE SL synchronised light scanners
can provide extremely high quality digitised images of archives – directly
from the original. This provides archivists with the means
to digitise and reproduce large archive materials in a suitable
format for storage.
When the original is scanned it is placed on a special table
during the whole process. Operators then pass a beam of light
bit by bit over the original. As this is happening, the scanner
digitises the image data (‘synchronically’).
The quality of images is much higher than you would expect
from conventional flat-bed scanners. The special illumination
process also exposes the original to a minimum of potentially
damaging light sources: delicate originals only receive as
little as one tenth of the amount of light normally needed
for such archiving processes.
Data gathered during scanning is much sharper than usual,
providing much finer resolutions and much, much smaller files.
This shortens processing times and takes up less disc space.
All Cruse SL Synchronised Light Scanners provide a special
texture option. This allows you to achieve a realistic reproduction
of features such as paint application, brush strokes and
damage. The synchronised light system allows you to digitise
objects up to 10 centimetres deep, without coming into contact
with the original and under uniform illumination. For thicker
objects, two light sources mounted along the side provide
the right amount of illumination. To keep the original safely
in place, the table has adjustable vacuum suckers which can
also be switched off entirely. One of the advantages of Cruse
scanners is that they provide extremely keen definition right
up to the border by using optimised lens technology based
on 100% parallel image capturing.
When digitising old documents
and plans, the aim is to reproduce the original as accurately
as possible. So not only should the colours be accurate,
you have to be able to discern the texture of materials and
relief.
Previous processes involving reprographic cameras,
slides, digital photography and flat-bed scanners were time
consuming, expensive and worse still: they often exposed
sensitive originals to intense illumination and other, mechanical
dangers. What’s
more, the resulting images often left a lot to be desired,
and (this should be emphasised) they were not true to the
original. Fine details were missed out, fine nuances on the
original. Reflected light and shadows spoiled the reproduction.
The Cruse scanner has made all these issues obsolete. The
Mainz city archives now digitises highly valuable historical
plans with ultimate precision.
Die Fotolabor M GmbH, Stuttgart
Fotolabor M is the inventor of a new, highly reliable process
for the long-term archiving of digital and analogue image
data. Going by the name savedpictures, their system allows
you to store the contents of important historical documents
as well as their colours, hues, structure and the overall
visual impact – right down to the finest detail and
nuance. savedpictures makes it possible to recreate images
almost entirely without loss of detail. The content of digital
images can be stored up to a size of 1.5 gigabyte, on film.
The system consists of two parts:
1. Ilford Micrographic Film
The first core component is the Ilford Micrographic Film
which offers unparalleled resolution and (similarly unbeatable)
archiving properties. According to experts, if stored properly
the film should last 2000-3000 years. In fact when it was
subjected to artificial ageing processes the material used
in the film ‘only’ lasted around 500 years. Even
then this was only because the medium started to break down
after standing up to 75°c for 2½ years. Despite
the harsh conditions, the colours still looked perfect.
The unique properties of this film have been proven time
and again in scientific testing and have attracted the acclaim
of archiving experts in every corner of the globe. The savedpictures
system processes Ilford films along the same lines as other
tried and tested methods, the only difference being the innovative
RGB laser technique used to expose the film. It’s safe
to assume that what we know today about analogue data storage
systems applies equally to digital microfiching.
2. Laser Writer
The second core component is the RGB laser writer. Going
down to resolutions as low as 80 lines per mm (ie: 2032 dpi)
it etches image data onto the Ilford Micrographic Film in
unprecedented high quality. If the original (or the digital
file of the original) gets lost, the resulting analogue image
can be redigitised in new quality to reflect accurately the
first digital image of the original.
The savedpictures system archives images in A4 format. Depending
on file sizes, each sp-page can hold between 1 and 64 files.
Exposed films are archived in special acid-free polyester
sleeves and stored in air-conditioned archives in the same
way as standard pictures.
4. The significance of the project; future
expectations
The project was an ideal opportunity for Mainz city archives
to digitise valuable historical documents. Previously under
threat, these could now be replicated accurately thanks to
the high performance scanner. With the savedpictures system
it was possible to permanently side-step the typical long-term
storage problems associated with digital information (as
well the subsequent costs of long-term storage media).
Prior to this project, the best alternative for long-term
archiving was considered to be the microfiche. This new laser
technique, hand-in-hand with Ilford micrographic, represents
a quantum leap forward in long-term archiving technology.
For decades archivists have been faced with the dilemma of
which replacement media to choose – analogue microfiche
or digital storage technology. This dilemma has now been
turned on its head. The joint project with Cruse und Fotolabor
M enabled Mainz city archivists to transfer content between
the two different media formats and thus tap into the advantages
of both: images have now been digitised, with colours totally
faithful to the originals; analogue copies are now in long-term
storage and thus removed from the threat of loss.
The overall aim of this project was to see what it would
be like transferring the entire archiving process into everyday
practice in a medium-sized city archive, and evaluate the
process – from digitisation to conversion and re-digitisation.
The findings could act as a valuable catalyst to all archivists
to discover for themselves this innovative service and the
practical role played by modern digital technology in complex
archiving projects.
To follow: an analysis of the project’s economic viability! |
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