What’s Missing from this Digital Collection?

Posted on by Geoffrey Ross

Many of our digital collections were created from microfilm surrogates, which is to say that the original print collection was at some point microfilmed (mostly in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s) for sale to libraries. Our own library bought many of these microfilm collections. Because it’s so much less expensive to digitize from microfilm (than from print originals), and because digitizing from microfilm spares those print originals from unnecessary wear and tear, many of our digital collections were created from these microfilm surrogates. You might be wondering how to determine whether a collection was digitized from microfilm. One good sign is if the documents in the collection are displayed in black-and-white (especially low bit-depth black-and-white) rather than color. Collections digitized directly from original print documents will usually display those documents in color. For example, the following:

Note that the versions digitized from microfilm are not only black-and-white, but a very low bit-depth black-and-white. Ain’t I a Woman? was actually printed in black-and-white (above left), but the microfilm copy doesn’t capture the paper’s color tone: what was beige in the original is plain white in the microfilm copy.

When using a digital collection that was digitized from a microfilm surrogate, we recommend that you consult the original microfilm guide. The reason for this recommendation is that the organization of archival collections can be very complex, and this complex organization will be described in the microfilm guides. The archival organization will also be described in the source archive’s finding aid, which you can often find online, but there are a few reasons why you should use the microfilm guide:

  • Sometimes the source archive was not microfilmed in its entirety, so the source archive’s finding aid will list documents not included in the microfilmed version.
  • Sometimes the archive continued grow to grow after it was microfilmed, and the source archive’s finding aid will list documents added after the collection was microfilmed, and therefore not to be found in the digitized version. This scenario is especially true of community archives.
  • Although uncommon, archives are sometimes rearranged, and if such rearrangement occurs after the collection has been microfilmed, then the resulting finding aid will not correspond to the microfilm guide.

The microfilm guide will be useful not only in navigating the complex digital collection, but it can also help you identify documents from the source microfilm collection that either were not included in the digitized version (probably through error), or else are lost somewhere in the digitized corpus. At the very least, you will know that the listed documents are still available for consultation on the microfilm version. As a case-in-point, below are some of newsletters, newspapers, and periodicals from the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance Archives that I have been unable to locate in the digitized version:

  • 212 (New York, N.Y.)
  • After Stonewall
  • Albatross (Brewton, Ala.)
  • All She Wrote
  • AMSAnews : Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People in Medicine (American Medical Student Association News)
  • Atlanta Gay Central (Missing Apr, 1979-May, 1979; and Apr, 1981-Sep, 1984)
  • Big Apple Dyke News
  • Black Forum
  • Black Lesbian Newsletter
  • Bottomfish Blues
  • Changing Herizons (Missing 7 issues)
  • CLAGS
  • Come Out!
  • Come Together
  • Congregation Tikvah Chadashah Newsletter
  • Corvallis Wimmins Collective Newsletter
  • Crossroads (Newsletter of accessible events of the deaf and hearing gay/lesbian community of Atlanta)
  • Dykes, Disability and Stuff
  • E.D.G.E. Newsletter (Education in a Disabled Gay Environment)
  • Equal Times
  • Feminist
  • Ferity
  • Fourth World
  • Fritt Fram
  • Front Page
  • Gay Central (Tallahassee, Fla.)
  • Gaynin’
  • Gaysweek
  • Gayzette
  • Green Mountain Dyke News
  • Guardian (New York, N.Y.)
  • Hera (Philadelphia, Pa.)
  • Hericane
  • In the Life
  • Jane Doe
  • Lambda (Missing Apr/May, 1980; Mar, 1981-Oct, 1985; and Mar, 1986-Apr/May, 1986)
  • Lambda Rising News
  • Lambda Speaks
  • Lambda Traveler News
  • Lavender Woman (Missing issues for 1971-1974, 1976)
  • Lesbian Feminist Center News
  • Lesbian Inciter ((Minneapolis, Minn.) (Most issues missing)
  • Lesbian Mothers’ Resource Network Newsletter
  • Lesbiana Speaks
  • Leviathan
  • Lone Star Lesbians
  • Maine Freewoman’s Herald
  •  Making a Difference: Newsletter of the National Association for Lesbian and Gay Gerontology
  • Mammy
  • Matriarchist (Missing two issues)
  • Mattachine New Times
  • Momazons
  • Monthly Pause
  • Motheroot Journal
  • Newsletter (Gerber/Hart Gay and Lesbian Library and Archives)
  • Newsletter (Society of American Archivists Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable)
  • North Carolina Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality News
  • Old Lesbian Organizing Committee Newsletter
  • Old Lesbian Organizing Committee Reporter
  • Out and About
  • Pan International
  • Report Line (Southeastern Arts, Media and Education Project)
  • Research Report (Wellesley College Center for Research on Women)
  • Runes
  • Sage-Femme
  • Second Wave
  • Secret Storm
  • Sexual Abstinence News
  • Sexual Law Reporter
  • She (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
  • She Magazine
  • Short Mountain Goatzette
  • Shrew
  • Signal (Atlanta, Ga.)
  • Signal (Gay Nurses’ Alliance)
  • Single Parent News
  • Sinister Wisdom
  • Sister
  • Sister Advocate
  • Sister Courage
  • Sister Lode
  • Sister Namibia
  • Sisterhood (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
  • Sisters
  • Sisters United
  • Sistership
  • SisterSource
  • Sisterspace
  • Skip Two Periods
  • Socialist Feminist Reporter
  • Socialist Woman
  • Something about the Women
  • Sourceline
  • Les Sourcières
  • Southeastern Women’s Studies Association Newsletter
  • Southern Coalition Report on Jails and Prisons
  • Southern Feminist
  • Southern Feminist Connection
  • Southern Gay Liberator
  • Southern Voice
  • Southwind
  • Spartan Woman
  • Spazm
  • Spectrum (Tallahassee, Fla.)
  • Spelman Messenger
  • Spinsterhaven
  • Spiral Wimmin’s Land Cooperative Newsletter
  • Spokeswoman
  • Spokeswoman for Abortion Law Repeal (Toronto, Ont.)
  • Sportswoman
  • Stehekin
  • Stonewall Report
  • Storm (New York, N.Y.)
  • Struggle (Sacramento, Calif.)
  • Sunset News and Interview
  • Supporters of Silkwood Newsletter
  • Susan Saxe Defense Committee Newsletter
  • Taking Control
  • Talisman (Hunter College)
  • Tallahassee Area Women’s Network Newsletter
  • Tallahassee Women’s Center Newsletter
  • Tapestry (Missoula, Mont.)
  • Telewoman
  • Themis
  • Thesmophoria
  • Thesmophoria’s New Moon
  • This Is It
  • Through the Looking Glass (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Tie Line
  • Times They Are a Changin’
  • Tits and Clits Comix
  • Toads
  • Tracks Express
  • Tradeswomen
  • Travel-Ons
  • Traveltalk
  • Tribad
  • Tribune (International Women’s Tribune Centre : English ed.)
  • True Colors
  • Trumpet (issues for 1980-1983)
  • Tulsa Oklahomans for Human Rights Reporter
  • Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition Newsletter
  • Twilight Times
  • Twin Cities Gaze (Minneapolis, Minn.)
  • Unitarian Universalist Lesbian and Gay Community Newsletter
  • Unicorn
  • Unitarian Universalist Lesbian/Gay World
  • Unlimited (Fayetteville, Ark.)
  • Up from Under
  • Update (Body Politic Free the Press Fund)
  • Update (Houston’s Gay Political Caucus)
  • Update (South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement)
  • Valley Women’s Union Newsletter (Northampton, Mass.)
  • Virago
  • Visibilities
  • Voix
  • W.A.C.C. News
  • Wages for Housework Campaign Bulletin
  • War Resister’s League News
  • War Resisters League Southeast Newsletter
  • Washington Area and Women’s Center News
  • Water
  • Wavelength
  • We are Visible
  • We the Women
  • Web of Crones
  • Wellspring
  • What She Wants
  • W.H.I.S.P.E.R.
  • Whole Woman Catalog
  • WICCE
  • Wimmin of the Earth Bonding
  • Win Peace and Freedom through Nonviolent Action
  • Wisconsin Womyn’s Land Coop Newsletter
  • WISE News
  • Wishing Well
  • Woman (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
  • Woman Becoming
  • Woman Alive
  • Woman Rising
  • Woman Write
  • Woman’s Journal-Advocate
  • Woman’s Word (Athens, Ga.)
  • Woman’s World
  • Womankind
  • Womansight
  • WomansWay
  • Women Against Pornography Newsreport
  • Women and Recovery
  • Women and Revolution
  • Women in Kahoots
  • Women in Libraries
  • Women in Motion
  • Women in the Country
  • Women of Color News
  • Woman of Wisdom
  • Women Organizing
  • Women Oughta Know
  • Women Today
  • Women Writing Newsletter
  • Women’s Alternative Times
  • Women’s Caucus Newsletter (Amherst, Mass.)
  • Women’s City Country Chronicle
  • Women’s Exchange Programme International Newsbulletin
  • Women’s Free Express
  • Women’s Information Centre Newsletter
  • Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
  • Women’s Issues News
  • Women’s LibeRATion
  • Women’s Monthly
  • Women’s National Abortion Action Coalition Newsletter
  • Women’s Network (Bronx, N.Y.)
  • Women’s Page
  • Women’s Place Newsletter (Atlanta, Ga.)
  • Women’s Place Newsletter (Toronto, Ont.)
  • Women’s Rights Report
  • Women’s Street Theater
  • Women’s Studies Abstracts
  • Women’s Studies Newsletter
  • Women’s Times
  • Women’s Voice of Greater Hartford
  • Women’s Washington Representative
  • Women’s Words
  • Womin Energy
  • Womyn Together
  • Womyn’s Words
  • Womynews
  • Womynlovers
  • Womynspace
  • Woodswomen News
  • Working Women Newsletter
  • World Congress Digest (World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Organizations)
  • WREE-View of Women for Racial and Economic Equality
  • WRFG Program Guide and Music Newspaper
  • Wyminspace Activities and Networking Directory
  • YWCA Midtown Women’s Center Newsletter (Atlanta, Ga.)
  • YWCAction (Atlanta, Ga.)

These missing periodicals are probably somewhere in the digitized collection, but you wouldn’t know to look for them because the digital collection’s guide does not list them. (That said, I actually have not yet been able to locate them, but considering that each reel of microfilm is digitized in its entirety, it’s difficult to fathom how they could have been omitted.) Note that most of the omissions come towards the end of the alphabetical order, and the titles are arranged alphabetically on the microfilm reels, suggesting that there might have been problems processing the later reels. Typically these errors will be corrected over time, but sometimes that “over time” is several years, and unless you know when a digital collection was created (crucial information often not disclosed), you may well not know if the collection you are using is brand new or a decade old. For these reasons, the original microfilm guides are often invaluable resources when using a digitized microfilm collection.

For reference, here is a video showing the list of publications that are actually in the digital collection as of May, 2022:

 

Updated on by Geoffrey Ross