Tait Family Papers: Creating the Digital Collection

Abstract

Most archival collections will have more than one user group or audience. Anticipating the most likely audience(s) for a given collection and thinking about the needs of the expected audience(s) should help the repository worker when preparing the collection for use. This panel will use as an example the Tait Family Papers Collection, which contains the financial records and correspondence of the Tait family, 19th and early 20th century plantation owners in Wilcox County, Alabama. The panel will discuss this collection from three different audience perspectives: Speaker 1 will talk about the collection from the point of view of traditional archival practice for use by on-site researchers. Speaker 2 will talk about using this collection in teaching situations at Auburn University. Speaker 3 [this presentation] will talk about constructing a digital collection that respects the original materials but meets the needs of an off-site audience.