I have a few of those as well.
To answer the original question below...
When we were asked if we wanted what was left of the printing blocks/plates at the old Indiana University Printing Services we went ahead and accepted them with the stipulation that more likely than not that we would keep a sampling of the blocks. So, what I did here was to pick through and keep a combination of what was the most interesting, the most historic to our institution, and a sampling of the different types of blocks/plates. I then scanned all of the blocks/plates, added them to our on-line collection, and then sent the blocks to our off-site facility for permanent storage. Blocks not chosen are still here, but will be sent to the Indiana University Surplus Store to be sold.
Bottom line I think that a sampling of blocks, in most cases, is sufficient. I also think you should keep them even after scanning as they have potential future research possibilities and can be used in exhibits regarding printing history, etc.
Thank you,
Bradley D. Cook - Curator of Photographs
Office of University Archives & Records Management
Indiana University
Herman B Wells Library E460
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
812-855-4495
[log in to unmask]
Visit our website at:
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
VENI, VIDI, VICI.
“There is nothing like the smell of a brand new auction catalog”
-----Original Message-----
From: Nathanael Hodge [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 9:58 AM
To: Cook, Bradley D
Subject: RE: Printing blocks
Yes, that looks more like the ones we have.
Nathanael Hodge
Archivist, The Mills Archive
www.millsarchive.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Cook, Bradley D [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 17 April 2015 14:21
To: Nathanael Hodge
Subject: RE: Printing blocks
Are your plates/blocks made from half-tone images? Something like this one?
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/results/item.do?itemId=P0052875&searchId=4&searchResultIndex=50
Thank you,
Bradley D. Cook - Curator of Photographs Office of University Archives & Records Management Indiana University Herman B Wells Library E460
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
812-855-4495
[log in to unmask]
Visit our website at:
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
VENI, VIDI, VICI.
“There is nothing like the smell of a brand new auction catalog”
-----Original Message-----
From: Nathanael Hodge [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 9:24 AM
To: Cook, Bradley D; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Printing blocks
Thanks Bradley. Clearly the printing blocks we have are of a different sort to the ones in your catalogue - they would give a photograph type image made up of tiny dots. Perhaps they are better described as 'plates' than 'blocks'?
Nathanael Hodge
Archivist, The Mills Archive
www.millsarchive.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Cook, Bradley D [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 17 April 2015 13:06
To: Nathanael Hodge; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Printing blocks
Here are some examples of printing blocks I recently scanned and added to our on-line collection. All of the blocks were flipped in Photoshop:
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/results/item.do?itemId=P0052789&searchId=8&searchResultIndex=81
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/results/item.do?itemId=P0052801&searchId=1&searchResultIndex=15
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/results/item.do?itemId=P0052809&searchId=2&searchResultIndex=30
You can also simply conduct a search for "printing blocks" in our on-line collection to see all of them.
FYI, all printing blocks, just like all of our images, were scanned at a minimum of 4001 pixels along the long edge.
Thank you,
Bradley D. Cook - Curator of Photographs Office of University Archives & Records Management Indiana University Herman B Wells Library E460
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
812-855-4495
[log in to unmask]
Visit our website at:
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
VENI, VIDI, VICI.
“There is nothing like the smell of a brand new auction catalog”
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nathanael Hodge
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 7:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Printing blocks
I should add that I've experimented with scanning them, and with some editing of brightness/contrast you can get a good image. However if you have access to the publication in which the image was printed, high resolution scanning of this will give as good or better, raising the question of whether it is worth keeping the printing block in this case.
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