As an extension of our mission to preserve the history of Indiana and its stories, the Conservation Department has recently established The Historic Document Preservation Program (HDPP). Its aim is to assist small museums, libraries and historical societies in preserving their collections through a variety of services:

Microfilm, Digital scanning and Moving Image Conversion
Our preservation imaging staff have over 25 years of experience in the careful handling and imaging of historic collections with the Historic Indiana Newspaper Microfilm Project. Our labs have digitized over 15,000 items from our special collection including documents, maps, photographs, nitrate film negatives, glass plate negatives, ledger books, scrapbooks, and panorama views. We have also converted moving image w/ sound film in our collection to DVD. Samples of these images may be viewed here.

Our imaging staff expertise, and state-of-the-art equipment may be utilized for a fee for non-profit, institutional reformatting projects. We will walk you through the process and requirements of your specific project and provide you with images that follow best standards of practice in the field. Your organization will retain copyrights to the digital image we provide. We are happy to provide you with information that may be utilized in a grant or private funding format.

Services offered include:

HDPP Application - To request imaging services the organization will submit an application in writing using the form provided here. Examples of eligible materials are:

Bound materials may be microfilmed but cannot be scanned unless specifically prepared by our conservation lab for a fee. Scrapbooks may be eligible when individual pages can be removed. A preparation fee may be incurred by our conservation staff. Certain other materials are not eligible, including copyrighted materials.

HDPP Inspection - Your collection will be inspected by our staff. Depending upon the size of your collection, you may be asked to bring the materials to the Indiana History Center for the inspection. Large collections can be inspected on-site by IHS staff, but mileage to and from your location will be charged.

HDPP Scheduling - Projects are scheduled on a first- come first served basis. We will work to the best of our ability to accommodate deadlines. It is the obligation of the owner to contact us well in advance if there is a specific deadline for the materials to be reformatted. Depending upon the size of the project it may take a period of several weeks for the services to be completed.

HDPP Fee Schedule - Monetary charges will apply for all services rendered, as follows:
$ 85.00 per roll of microfilm (you will be provided both master negative and one positive copy)
$ 5.00 per scan
$ 40.00 per hour (or partial hour) of moving image film or video tape (you will be provided a DVD

In order to apply, please print out the application form and mail to :

Please contact the Director, Preservation Imaging by email or by calling 317-232-4592 for more detailed information on how we may assist you with your reformatting needs.

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