From a private collection to a digital photo archive

At the end of March, eight archive boxes left the institute and were handed over to a scanning service provider for digitization. The contents: 3.800 negatives and slides, neatly arranged and labeled according to format - the first milestone of a project has been achieved. In this project the entire photo collection is being reorganized, digitized, and catalogued. Looking at those eight archive boxes one does not get an idea of the work steps that were necessary:

The material that went to the Ernst-Krenek-Institute after Gladys N. Krenek's death has increased the photo collection to almost five times its original size. In eight weeks, first of all, the photographic objects were collected from the more than 150 boxes containing what we lovingly call the "Gladys estate". In a further step, the negatives and slides were sorted and prepared for digitization. In several lists, not only the signature, format and number of objects were recorded, but also the old and new storage location, the original packaging and any labeling - in short, everything that could be documented in terms of context and could be helpful for later evaluation of the material.

Reaching for gloves and a magnifying glass soon became a routine as well as looking through the negatives into the backlight. Cut film strips were reassembled in a detective-like manner - not without documenting the order in which they were stored. And the joy was great when a travel route from the Alps through Tuscany to Rome could suddenly be reconstructed from individual motifs, or a small series of pictures of the Kreneks with their new grill provided a rare glimpse into their private lives.

We are eagerly awaiting the new digital copies, which will certainly offer many interesting and new insights into Krenek's life.