Whistle While You Scan…
“Could you please send me a picture of Secretariat?” was the most common request fans had for Mrs. Penny Chenery (then Tweedy) the owner of Secretariat who won the Triple Crown in 1973.
For 5 days I sifted through and scanned fan mail sent to Mrs. Chenery about her super horse Secretariat and some including his stable mate Riva Ridge. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs was loaned an old box of fan letters dated from the fall of 1973 through spring 1974 with the intent that they could scan them and then have full rights to those images. While the letters themselves won’t be a part of the museum’s archives the digital images will be.
I was able to participate in the practical aspects of a scanning project including organizing the letters, scanning, and metadata creation. It was a great opportunity to refresh my digitization skills and to be reminded just how long it takes to go through the process. (Partly because I couldn’t resist reading many of the letters!)
