[Colorado-Talk] Help fund our Colorado History preservation project

Wed Apr 22 16:38:05 UTC 2020

Hell All:

We have a great history regarding the blind of Colorado and we are the only
ones who can tell it.  We have been entrusted with these single-source
documents and we have a responsibility to preserve and share them with
ourselves and the world.  

I have a job for all of us during our social distancing times.  As you all
my remember, we have many old records dating back as far as 1915 from the
organized blind of Colorado we are prepping for preservation.  We are almost
ready to take the records to the Archival firm, but COVID-19 got in the way.
Still, we can work on brining in funds to pay for the digitization.  When
the records have been digitized, we will need to have volunteers to help
clean them up into easily read files, but that may not be for several
months.

Thank you to the Mile High Chapter for sending in a contribution to
preserving our history.  Other Chapters are welcome to do so as well.  Thank
you to the individuals also pledging and sending in funds dedicated to this
project.  

I am attaching a file and pasting the text below, outlining our financial
request.  Please use the attached file to send to friends, family, business
acquaintances and community groups who might contribute to this cause.  I
look forward to counting your name in our roll of supporters.

If you have questions, please call me, Peggy Chong at 303-745-0473

"To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without
a root."

- Chinese  Proverb

We, the Blind, Need Your Help to Save Our History!

We Need Your Financial Support!

We Need Your Time to Transcribe Files into Word Documents!

Time holds our history hostage!  The National Federation of the Blind of
Colorado, NFBCO holds a unique and  irreplaceable history of the blind of
Colorado dating back to the early 20th century, but we, the blind, cannot
read it!  Help us preserve our one-of-a-kind, precious history before it
turns into moldy, paper dust.  

Historians and scholars have come to us to research the sole-source records
in our archives.  The information they have gleaned has contributed to
doctoral theses and published books such as Thomas A. Karinz's Delivering
Aid: Implementing Progressive Era Welfare in The American West.  However,
there is much history yet to be uncovered.  Valuable data is trapped in the
multiple formats and the desperate conditions of the records.  Boxes and
boxes of old Braille, typewritten notes on onion skin paper, faded
mimeographs, letters in cursive handwriting,  and faded newspaper articles
are deteriorating year after year. What can we do to save this unique
history of the blind in Colorado?

WE HAVE A SOLUTION!!

A Professional digitization firm has been identified to painstakingly create
electronic files, preserving an image of the original format.  They will
transcribe through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) the print records.
However, the majority of the records are in multiple formats that are not
OCR friendly.  Handwriting, Braille, mimeographs and faded print make
scanning difficult or impossible. That which scans poorly must be manually
corrected and that which doesn't scan at all must be transcribed into an
electronic format, such as MS Word..  The electronic files will be available
for all...searchable and easily read by multiple screen readers.  

When the project is completed, it will bring to life, in multiple formats,
the history of the blind of Colorado and the blind men and women pioneers
who contributed to state history through business, politics, education and
more.  The completed project will be shared with multiple public and
blindness specific libraries. Anyone will be able to access, search and
learn from our blind ancestors.  

We need your help!  Don't let our history be lost, forgotten or destroyed!
This preservation project is a huge undertaking that will take both money
and volunteer time. Call or email today to find out how you can help
preserve a vital part of Colorado history.

Mail checks to:

NFBCO, History

2233 W SHEPPERD AVE

LITTLETON, CO 80120-2038

On-Line at: www.nfbco.org

Peggy Chong-Coordinator

303-745-0473

 <mailto:chongpeggy10 at gmail.com> chongpeggy10 at gmail.com

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