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Former Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion speaks at Gratz College
thing. Th is isn’t a fi nite thing. It’s not
like, ‘We’ve done the scanning, and
now it’s up there, and now it’s over, and
we’re moving onto something else.’
Th ey’re all living collections.”
JEVS Human Services Franklin C.

Ash summer intern Isabella Duarte
has spent the last three weeks scanning
the Jewish Exponent fi les, fi rst on her
phone and then on industrial scan-
ners, matching clippings with original
photos, and documenting the photos’
fronts and backs. She organizes the
scanned fi les into digital folders.

Each folder has 60-100 clippings and
photos, Duarte said, and each drawer
contains 50-80 folders.

When handling newspaper archives,
archivists need to make special consid-
erations about the fi les, Guerin said.

Newsprint, unlike other papers, is
acidic, meaning it will break down if
not stored properly. Newspaper clip-
pings also tend to be folded, which
speeds up paper deterioration.

Because newspapers are laid out in
thin columns and stories may span
over a few pages, individuals oft en use
paper clips or staples to keep clippings
together. Th e little metal pieces can
rust and damage the paper further.

“You want to make sure that you’re
removing anything that’s going to
damage the items further than they
already are,” Guerin said.

Digitizing the fi les means that, even
in the case of having severely damaged
clippings, the source will fi nd a new
home online.

“Th e big overarching driving force that
we have is really access — access and
preservation — to show people what we
have,” Guerin said. “It’s sort of like a tree
falling in the woods, right? If no one
hears it, did it happen? Same thing with
libraries. If no one knows these collec-
tions exist, then they might as well just
not exist. Th at’s the big, sort of, takeaway
from this project.”
When Duarte spent her fi rst day with
the Exponent archives, she sat with a
bound volume for more than two hours,
reading over old issues. Born and raised
in Elkins Park, Duarte, 20, said she
found her grandparents’ engagement
announcement in the paper; in another
issue, she found a story about the open-
ing of a new bagel shop she remembers
telling her parents about.

She wants to be part of preserving
the pages for the next generation.

“Th e Jewish Exponent is the pillar
of our community, of our people,” she
said. JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Happy
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JOCSERNICA@YAHOO.COM Jewish Exponent fi le cabinets that house clippings and photos dating to
the 1950s
Photo by Sasha Rogelberg
610-551-3105 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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