Slides in the Memory Lane collection

[downeastrailfan]

IIRC, they have about 4 metal cases of slides. Many were taken in Kentville and Yarmouth and are 70s vintage. It would be great if someone local could scan them. Ric, how about you? They are not willing to loan them out, so scanning would have to be done on site.

Matthew Keoughan

[stem]

Let me tell you the short version of the DAR DPI. I originally wanted to host a site to support the Museum. I contacted the board of directors and received permission to do so. In creating the site http://memorylanerailwaymuseum.org I also wanted to create a site to house the digitalization of their digitizable assets so that they were there for posterity and to enhance the web site with really great information about their exhibits. And so I created the DAR DPI. Along the way I also visualized a computer terminal in the museum so that visitors could have a detailed look at the entire D.A.R. and see how the exhibits in the museum realted to the entire history of the line.

Along the way, I have been unable to get the folks at the museum to even submit some photos to start to build the web site for them. I would desperately love to continue to build a web site in support of their totally D.A.R. museum but it has become painfully apparent that this may not be possible via remote control.

Now I have heard they have a ton of stuff but there is no inventory to my knowledge. It would be a fine thing to do is to consider as a group doing all we can to support a museum that is totally D.A.R. If anyone has some local contacts that may be interested this would be a good start as we need to get "hands on" to do a good job.

What do you think guys?

[downeastrailfan]

The "museum" is actually the result of a drop in centre for mentally handicapped individuals. It is run entirely by dedicated volunteers, and they have done a commendable job.

With that being said, I have some museum experience, and I think they need to seriously weed out their displays. It looks overcrowded, and not everything is DAR. They have some photos of trains in the U.S., and items which are not railway related. Nothing is catalogued, and nothing is filed (to my knowledge).

The freight shed section houses their donations, which they sell to raise funds.

If they could get a grant for a summer student to organize and catalogue items, that would be a great asset.

They recently re-installed the main track in front of the station, and have the speeder on it. Someone in the community refurbished the engine, so it is now operational.

I know some of the families of decased DAR employees have donated uniforms, photos, etc. so they have some real jems.

So, to answer your question Steve, there isn't much I can do, as I live two hours away. And if I could, I would probably shake things up too much for them.

[fergusontea]

We visited the museum around the middle of July and I was quite impressed. They're a friendly bunch in there and I enjoyed looking around. I honestly did not know it existed!

-mike
chance harbour, nb

[stem]

Do you have some photos and or some impressions of the exhibits there to share with everyone?

[fergusontea]

Like was mentioned, I did find the displays to be a bit chaotic but I still enjoyed discovering all the little bits a pieces everywhere. This museum is very eclectic, which I think is OK for now. I'm just glad to see that all this stuff is being preserved and they have an enthusiastic set of people working on it. The kids enjoyed the running trains but weren't able to see the outdoor trains as it was raining that day.

-mike

[Ric]

Waaaay late to this conversation as I had a couple computer meltdowns and in teh midst of other stuff. I would like to san the slide but I lack necessary equip

[SgtBobCdn]

I have the capability to scan photos, slides and photo negatives. Additionally I can scan them in Hi-def and create a WMV media file from the images. Can put it on DVD and then add chapters and some limited artwork if required.

Rob

[stem]

What kind of a slide scanner do you have Rob?

[SgtBobCdn]

Hi Steve, I am using an Epson Perfrcton 4490 Photo scanner. It has the capabality to do letter and legal size documents, as well as scanning from the top down. I comes with the trays necessary to scan photos, slides and negatives, so I am very impressed with the machine.

It is a couple of years old so there is probably a newer version that you can buy, but it is a specific machine and a little off the main stream.

Rob

[hollyhanes]

Sounds like the museum needs to catalogue and work on a demonstration they need a volunteer day. I worked as a summer student in our local museum in Selma run by the Historical Society and have had the chance to visit the Colchester Historical Society Museum in Truro which did two different exhibits that I had the chance to see Wings over Colchester and the Railway.
The group should look into getting grants for guides as well as researchers this will give them a better understanding of what they have not just displaying it but educating the public.

[SamuelMClark]

On the 24th of July I'll be heading back to the Memory Lane Railway Museum and I'm going to spend the entire day scanning photos or taking pictures of pictures if they are too big to scan. Then later on in September when I get a scanner that does slides and negatives I'll be heading back to scan the slides.

I was up there today and was speaking with the guy who runs the museum and he was all for me scanning the pictures to get digital copies to preserve them. So hopefully I'll be able to get them scanned and uploaded to the site under the collection title of Memory Lane.

[stem]

This is really great news Samuel. If you've got a digital camera, a photo of all the items that can't be scanned would very important too. After the episode with that fellow "collecting" museum pieces, it would serve as a permanent record to start the museum catalogue.