To help preserve at-risk historical records and improve access for people conducting New York family history research, the NYG&B launched the Digitize New York initiative in 2023. Through this initiative, the NYG&B is partnering with historical societies, churches, town hall offices, cemeteries, and other organizations as well as researchers across New York State to digitize these records and make them available online.
In this session, Ryan Gleason, NYG&B's Vice President of Digital Services, assesses Digitize New York collections released in 2024, as well as the various digitization projects underway. Special attention will be paid to the progress made at the new Central New York Digitization Center in Syracuse, which has been fully operational since June 2024 and already boasts 8 active projects and more than 40 project applications under review. Ryan also walks through the challenges at play in at-risk preservation and the technology innovations and experiments pushing the work in new directions.