On Saturday, volunteer VivianLea Solek and I launched a project that will take years to complete, but which I think is very exciting. CHS has collections that are on VHS, Beta, reel to reel, audio-cassette tapes, vinyl records, and 16 and 8 mm film, so called “legacy media”. We have no way to play them (except the VHS) so we will need to have them digitally converted. The first step is to find out exactly what we have. That is why, on Saturday, we delved into the first collection, that of Bill Savitt of P.O.M.G. and Savitt Jewelers in Hartford. In addition to his “papers” which have been organized and cataloged, what I think we have are radio spots advertising his jewelry store. However, he was in to so much, such as sponsoring The Savitt Gems baseball team, that the reel to reel, audio-cassette and video tapes could contain just about anything.
In addition to the Savitt material, we have family films, a collection of aviation films donated by the New England Air Museum and movies made by Fenwick studios, not to mention programs videotaped or recorded at some of our own programs. There is a wealth of information there, if we only knew what it was.
Once we have a handle on what we have, we can then write a grant to have this material digitized and made available on the web. What an exciting prospect!
Oh, by the way, P.O.M.G. means “Peace of Mind Guaranteed”.
inside the CHS 