Clients & Case Studies Case Studies

A not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Hebrewbooks.org was founded in order to preserve old Hebrew books and related scholarship that are out of print and/or circulation. Since 2006, Crowley Imaging has scanned more than 11,000 volumes of rare and out-of-print works which were in danger of being lost, destroyed or which were simply disintegrating due to the passage of time. The collection began with 2,000 works of American rabbis of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Recent additions have expanded the scope of the collection to include the broad range of Jewish tradition, law and custom, including commentaries, legal analysis and rabbinic journals published in Hebrew, English and Yiddish by Jewish scholars all over the world.

Each of the 11,000 books can be viewed as a Portable Document File (PDF), ensuring that the books are preserved and available in their original state. The volumes are now fully searchable (search services provided by a partner firm).

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a volunteer women's service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history and securing America's future through better education for children. As one of the most inclusive genealogical societies in the country, DAR boasts 168,000 members in 3,000 chapters across the United States and internationally. Any woman 18 years or older-regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background-who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution is eligible for membership.

Over 800,000 applications for membership have been submitted to DAR since the organization was founded in 1890 - the majority of them handwritten. Age and years of handling have contributed to the decay of many of these unique documents. In 2000, the DAR embarked on an ambitious and vital plan to preserve these membership applications for future generations of members and researchers. Working closely with the Crowley service bureau, DAR researched the best approach to preservation and developed a plan to create a set of digital images and microfiche for each application.

In all, the complete collection of 1.2 million pages of application material, including applicants' lineage, were preserved in both digital and microfiche formats.

A generous grant from the Charles Edward Hilgenberg Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation and the support of Mr. John Hilgenberg and family allowed the Maryland Historical Society (MDHS) the opportunity to digitize their collection of Der Deutsche Correspondent – a German-language newspaper in print from 1841 through 1918. The MDHS collection included 98 bound volumes of Der Deutsche Correspondent, totaling 84,000 pages - by far the most substantial collection of the newspaper. One of the primary goals of the conversion project was to provide web-based access to Der Deutsche Correspondent via digitization.

For a detailed and interesting history on this project, visit the blog written by Jenny Ferretti, digitization coordinator and Hilgenberg Archive project manager at the Maryland Historical Society