Abstract:

This proposal details a collaborative research project involving the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, the University of Nebraska State Museum, the Nebraska Historical Society, and members of the Omaha Tribe, to locate and catalogue Omaha artifacts and photographic images which are scattered in museums, libraries, and private collections throughout the world. Key to this project is the development and implementation of a web site to make the resulting database of Omaha artifacts and an online gallery of Omaha images accessible to tribal members, educators, students, and the general public.

Omaha culture is important to the history of Plains peoples because the Omaha are one of the few Plains tribes who continued an earthlodge/horticultural adaptation to the Plains even after horses were introduced. Such peoples are poorly known in contrast to the cultures of the horse nomads like the Lakota. Omaha artifacts are scarce, widely dispersed, and not well catalogued. Moreover, collections are not readily accessible to the public or to tribal members.

In an effort to make Omaha artifacts and photographic images more readily available, this project will create an online catalogue of tribal resources drawn from international sources. Partners in this project are the University of Nebraska State Museum, which houses some of the most important Omaha artifacts, including the Omaha Tribal Collection’s Sacred Pole and LaFlesche collection; the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, which has significant experience in cataloguing images and creating web resources; and the Nebraska State Historical Society. The Society has Omaha artifacts in the Museum of Nebraska History, Omaha photographic images in the Library and Archives and a state-of-the-art digitization lab. The partners are uniquely qualified to work together to achieve project goals and to work with Omaha tribal consultants.

The partners will work together to 1) prepare, distribute, and assess a survey of various museum collections, historical societies, and members of the Omaha Tribe. The survey results will identify institutions with Omaha artifacts and images, and provide descriptions of the objects to aid in cataloguing; 2) develop and maintain a web site and an electronic inventory of artifacts and images identified, located, and catalogued as a result of surveyed research; 3) consult with the Omaha Tribe to create an electronic gallery exhibit of selected Omaha artifacts; and 4) add the web site to an international metadata database (OCLC).

We anticipate that our collaboration will have several outcomes, including: 1) producing a searchable, online resource to assist students, researchers, and the general public to understand the role of an earthlodge-dwelling Plains people; 2) producing a searchable, online resource to help members of the Omaha Tribe gain a broader sense of the cultural heritage of their people; 3) producing a virtual exhibit and catalogue of Omaha artifacts and images enriched by explanatory text; and 4) modeling successful collaboration of a museum, a research library, members of a Native American tribe, and a state historical society.

This proposal details a collaborative research project involving the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, the University of Nebraska State Museum, the Nebraska State Historical Society, and members of the Omaha Tribe to locate and catalogue Omaha artifacts, which are scattered in museums, libraries, and private collections throughout the world. Key to this project is the development and implementation of a web site to make the resulting database of Omaha artifacts and an online gallery of Omaha images accessible to tribal members, educators, students, and the general public.

A recent NEH-funded tribal summit held in Nebraska at the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center (March 7-8, 2001) concluded that Native American traditions are being lost at a frightening speed and that the cultural heritage of tribes is endangered. Losing the record of our nation’s indigenous inhabitants will have a detrimental effect on our culture at large. For example, many of our states (such as Delaware and S. Dakota), cities or boroughs (such as Manhattan, Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha, and Seattle), and natural resources (such as the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers) have derived their names from native peoples and languages. The names help link us to a collective past.

Further, like indigenous people the world over, North American tribes had a belief system and way of life that profoundly differed from the European immigrants who came to this continent. For thousands of years, these tribal peoples successfully adapted to an often times harsh environment without despoiling the ecosystem. A working knowledge of the cultures of these early inhabitants will take on greater and greater importance in the twenty-first century as we are obliged to come to terms with the environmental limitations of our current consumption-oriented lifestyle.

Historically, heritage and traditions of a tribal culture are embodied in their language, their oral traditions, their artifacts, and their visual images. This holds true for the Omaha Tribe, an earthlodge-dwelling Plains people who reside in northeastern Nebraska. This project will help address some of the preservation issues identified at the tribal summit.

Background: The Omaha Tribe is one of many small and little-known tribes in the United States. Originating in the Ohio Valley, the ancestral Dhegian peoples began to move westward around AD1500. Crossing the Mississippi River the ancestral group broke up. The Quapaw went south; the Osage and Kansa continued west; the Omaha and Ponca turned northward. Concerned about the splintering of the tribe, Omaha and Ponca elders met sometime during the mid 1600s to discuss the future of their peoples. It was at this point that a young man discovered a tree that burned but was not consumed with fire. To the elders, the tree symbolized the unity of the nation. It became the Sacred Pole of the Omaha people and it is still the central icon of the tribe. The Sacred Pole traveled with the Omaha as they left north-central Iowa in the late 1600s in their westward migration. The Omaha reached the western shore of the Missouri River in northeastern Nebraska in the late 1600s or early 1700s and they remain in Nebraska today.

The Omaha Tribe is important as a representative of an earthlodge-dwelling plains people. The tribe’s adaptation was entirely different from typical nomadic Plains tribe such as the Lakota or Cheyenne who had no permanent home. The annual cycle of earthlodge peoples was built around planting and harvesting maize. Buffalo hunts took place in the summer and winter. Their villages served as rendezvous points where Plains nomads exchanged hides and clothing for agricultural products. Under Chief Blackbird, the Omaha became the outpost for traders from St. Louis and the redistribution center for trade goods to Plains nomads during the late 1700s.

As a result of missionization, forced schooling, poverty, cultural impoverishment, and other forms of subjugation by the dominant white society, the tribe’s cultural heritage had been largely lost by the early 1900s. Many of the tribe’s most sacred objects were deposited in the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. Additionally, many older items were considered worthless and either discarded or sold to collectors or other museums.

At about this time, Francis LaFlesche, who collaborated with Alice Fletcher in writing an ethnography of the Omaha and later worked for the Smithsonian Institution, made collections of Omaha materials for the Peabody, the Lowie Museum, and the Museum für Volkerkünde in Berlin. For the most part, these collections were composed of artifacts newly made for the purpose.

In the 1970s under the leadership of Doran Morris, then Chair of the Tribe and also the traditional Keeper of the Sacred Pole, the Omaha began to seek the return of their most sacred objects from the Peabody Museum. In 1980, the Sacred Pole, other sacred objects, and the LaFlesche collection were returned to the Tribe. They are now housed at the University of Nebraska State Museum until suitable facilities can be built to house them on the Omaha Reservation.

Collections of Omaha artifacts are difficult to access. The location of the LaFlesche collection and other Omaha artifacts in Lincoln is a unique opportunity for the partners to begin cataloguing and creating a database of Omaha artifacts to illuminate and preserve tribal history.

In preparation for this proposal several institutions in each category have already been queried. Omaha artifacts are quite scarce. The Field Museum of Natural History has only one artifact identified as Omaha in its collection. The Smithsonian Institution has just thirteen catalog entries for Omaha. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming has just six. The Sioux City (Iowa) Museum, located only twenty miles from the reservation, has four objects attributed to the Omaha. This preliminary investigation indicates that the number of pre-1940 artifacts and images is unlikely to exceed 1000 records.

The goals of our library-museum partnership are to develop a significant online resource to the artifacts and images of a Native American nation and to develop a model of cooperation involving a university library, a museum, a historical society, and a Native American tribe. We anticipate that this project will make available to the world important information about the cultural diversity of Native American peoples by creating:

• A searchable, online resource to assist students, researchers, and the general public to understand the role of an earthlodge-dwelling Plains people;

• A searchable, online resource to assist members of the Omaha Tribe gain a broader sense of the cultural heritage of their people;

• A virtual exhibit of Omaha artifacts and images enriched by explanatory text; and,

• A model of collaboration among a museum, a research library, members of a Native American tribe, and a state historical society.

• Information concerning the Omaha that is scattered in museums and historical societies around the world (known collections are in North America and Europe) will be gathered together.

• A searchable web site will be created describing the artifacts or images.

• Selected images will be scanned and exhibited on the web.

• An adaptable plan for collaboration among a university library, a state museum, a state historical society, and an Indian nation will be developed.

• Information about the web site will be made available on an international database.

Adaptability:

The Nebraska project offers considerable scope for adaptability by other institutions and tribes. In particular, we anticipate that the appearance of a virtual exhibit on the Omaha Tribe will spawn requests by other tribes to be similarly represented. The UNSM has had this experience with loanable, hands-on kits about particular tribes developed by its Education Division. Additionally, the template of the virtual exhibit will be directly utilizable for other projects. The partners to this project will encourage modeling by other institutions and will assist in such projects as needed.

Activities:

Activity 1 (December 2001-June 2002)

Survey museums, historical societies, and members of the Omaha Tribe to ascertain the location of Omaha cultural artifacts and images. The survey will be issued electronically when possible, by direct inquiry to museums via electronic mail, listserves, and as a posted form on the project web site. Some smaller museums or historical societies may need to be reached via print media, and as a dual approach will be necessary. Tribal members will be identified by word-of-mouth and print media widely read on the Reservation. Initial responses will be used to determine whether to request digital images and permissions to either post online or to link to existing web photos.

Dr. Myers will develop the artifact and image survey that will be directed at 1) the largest museums in North America and Europe, 2) smaller regional museums, 3) proximate local museums, and 4) people of the Omaha Tribe.

Activity 2 (Feb 2002-June 2003):

Critically evaluate cultural attribution and collection records. Museum records are almost never "clean," and so require evaluation by a knowledgeable researcher. Dr. Myers will be responsible for this phase of the project in consultation with members of the Omaha Tribe. Time and place of collection as well as the collector will be taken into consideration. Style is also an important factor. Museums often attribute objects on the basis of artistic style, a fact that is not always clear from the museum records. What stylistic features, and what comparable specimens, for example, led an item to be identified as "Omaha?"

Activity 3 (March 2002-November 2003):

Based on information provided by respondents, project staff and Omaha consultants will select representative artifacts to be digitally photographed or scanned for archival purposes and for possible inclusion in the online exhibit. In Nebraska, digital photography or scanning of images will be done by the Nebraska State Historical Society, which maintains a state-of-the-art digitization laboratory. When artifacts and images are held outside the state, scanning or digital photography will generally be done by the holding institution, although we will offer institutions without imaging capabilities the option of having the work conducted through the Nebraska State Historical Society. Digital photography performed by NSHS staff at the Museum of Nebraska History and the UNSM will be done with a Phase One FX Digital Camera. Information concerning selection and imaging requirements will be shared online. Tribal consultants will provide input regarding issues sensitive to tribal confidentiality of sacred rites and sacred objects. Preliminary discussions suggest that only items from the Sacred Packs should not be digitized. Central icons such as the Sacred Pole and the associated pipe are permissable and even recommended.

Activity 4 (February 2003-November 2003):

Catalogue the digital images on OCLC, an international bibliographic database, providing a URL for those images chosen for the virtual exhibit. Thus the records and the images will be available on OCLC’s World Cat database and through the UNL Libraries’ web site (http://iris.unl.edu). UNL Libraries will ensure that MARC records concerning the images and artifacts meet national standards. Currently, UNL is also using the Visual Resource Association Core metadata for work description and visual document description. VRA Core may best be described as an enhanced Dublin Core.

Activity 5 (February 2002-October 2003):

The UNL Libraries and the University of Nebraska State Museum will jointly develop a web site of representative images. Partners will develop a virtual exhibit through selection of artifacts, research, and writing of accompanying text in collaboration with project consultants. Alternate objects may be selected so that the exhibit may be changed from time to time. A searchable, online inventory will be developed for the web site. It is anticipated that the site will serve the dual purposes of making information concerning Omaha artifacts available to members of the Omaha Tribe and the world. The web site will document project objectives and achievements. The web site will be catalogued on OCLC using the Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC) interface.

The UNL Libraries have tested a new generation of JAVA-based software for web image management that will be used for this project. MetaCat software allows users (based on level of authorization) to select images and create their own slide show that can either be played online or downloaded for later play. This software makes it easy to create both exhibits and instruction on web pages. A prototype has been developed and can be demonstrated using a web browser with a JAVA 1.3 plugin. The URL is: http://207.91.27.141/archdemo/index.html. Login and password are "guest." MetaCat is similar to a high-end software developed by Michael Ester and produced by Luna Imaging.

Parenthetically, other library-museum projects funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) associated with Native American resources are not collection-based projects. Library projects such as the Five States Project of the Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives, and Public Records, address information needs, training, and delivery of information services to American Indian tribal communities in the Four Corners (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) and Nevada. The project in Nebraska proposes to address preservation, dissemination, and accessibility of cultural artifacts and the history of a tribe.

The UNL Libraries and the University of Nebraska State Museum, though located on the same campus, are administratively separate from one another. The University Libraries report to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the University of Nebraska State Museum reports to the Vice Chancellor for Research. The Nebraska State Historical Society reports to an independent board and to the State of Nebraska. Two divisions of the Society will be involved in this project. One division is the Library and Archives’ Digital Imaging Laboratory and the other is the Museum of Nebraska History. Project design will involve each of these units.

The principal investigators will provide expertise in managing the project. Dr. Myers will be responsible for 1) developing the surveys and assembling the list of objects and images; 2) evaluating the documentation; 3) utilizing the consultants; 4) selecting the items for the virtual exhibit; 5) selection of items for digitization; and 6) preparing the text to accompany the virtual exhibit. Ms. Allison will be responsible for 1) creation of the electronic inventory; 2) coordinating cataloguing and metadata activities; 3) developing the project web site and serving as the project’s web master.

The Applicant Organization and its partners have successfully completed many state and federal grant projects. Examples include ones such as the following:

• The UNL Libraries and Nebraska State Historical Society successfully conducted the Nebraska Newspaper Project from 1992-2000. Funding for the three-phased project, totaling $729,000, was received from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

• The Nebraska State Historical Society conducted an American Memory Project with funding from Ameritech from 1998-2000. Images and text appear on the Library of Congress American Memory web site.

• The University of Nebraska State Museum has received a State Museum Award from the Institute for Museum and Library Services for general operating support, 1994-1996.

Contributions: The University of Nebraska State Museum, the UNL Libraries, and the Nebraska State Historical Society realize the most important outcome of this project is to organize and preserve information concerning the Omaha for the world. Cost share towards the project will be provided by many institutions contributing descriptions of their collections, by the partners in the project, and by the Omaha Tribe.

Personnel: Resumes or job descriptions for personnel appear in an appendix.

Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Myers is a museum anthropologist with specialties in the Great Plains and the Amazon Basin. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1970. He has worked closely with members of the Omaha Tribe for more than ten years and curates the Omaha Tribal Collection as well as the anthropological collections of the University of Nebraska. He has taught a variety of anthropological courses and teaches an annual course entitled North American Art and Anthropology. Dr. Myers has served as a MAP consultant. For the duration of the project, Dr. Myers will serve as the principal liaison between the Omaha and the project partners. Dr. Myers will serve on the project is as principal liaison with the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and he will be responsible for filing reports to the agency and for attending meetings at IMLS. He will select images for the web site in collaboration with the Omaha consultants, and he will serve as the principal correspondent with institutions around the world concerning their Omaha collections. Dr. Myers will supervise the project assistant on the grant.

Co-Principal Investigator: Dee Ann Allison is the Chair of the Automated Systems Department in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. She has been involved in a variety of automation projects with the purpose of providing electronic access to special collections. These projects range from developing a catalogue of the book collection of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia on the Internet to digitizing slides and designing a computer program to translate electronic data coded in SGML into HTML to enable web users without browsers to access data. Ms. Allison will be responsible for planning and constructing the web site for the project, for coordinating activities involving members of the UNL Libraries such as catalogers responsible for metadata and staff assisting in keying in data, and for coordinating work with the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center’s Digitization Lab (a division of the Nebraska State Historical Society). Ms. Allison will serve as the project’s web master.

Project Assistant: A project assistant will assist in development and evaluation of the inventory, selection of items for the virtual exhibit, research and text writing, and serve as a liaison between the Co-PIs. This individual will have a B.A. in anthropology, history, or museum studies with substantial work experience, or a graduate degree in one of these fields. He/she will be familiar with collection management and have solid computer skills.

Cataloguing Resource Personnel: Margaret V. Mering and Sue Ann Gardner will serve the project as Cataloguing Resource Personnel. Ms. Mering has considerable experience as a cataloger and has served on the faculty of national and regional cataloguing training sessions. She was the principal author of the CONSER guidelines for cataloguing electronic newspapers, and has been actively involved in using CORC (an OCLC interface used for cataloging web sites) and with slide cataloguing. Ms. Gardner handles cataloguing of the museum studies resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is experienced in cataloguing electronic resources. She is also worked with CORC. Both catalogers will assist the Museum in description and analysis of records for the online inventory.

Tribal Consultants: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will work with the Omaha Historical Research Project on selecting tribal consultants to work on the project. Consultants from the tribe will include people such as Doran Morris and Dennis Hastings. Since decisions among the Omaha people are often a matter of consensus we anticipate that others also will be drawn into the discussion.

Doran Morris is an Omaha elder. He is past Chairman of the Omaha Tribe and currently a member of the Tribal Council. He is the traditional Keeper of the Sacred Pole and was the key figure in the return of Omaha sacred objects to the Omaha people.

Dennis Hastings, a registered member of the Omaha, is Director of the Omaha Historical Research Project. He is a PhD candidate in Applied Anthropology at the Western Institute for Social Research, Berkeley CA. Hastings has been a Trustee of the Foundation of the Nebraska State Historical Society and has received a Certificate of Award from the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma for his contributions to the enactment of the Nebraska Unmarked Burial Sites and Skeletal Remains Protection Act.

Project personnel from the Nebraska State Historical Society are:

Jill Koelling is Curator of Photographs and Head of Digital Imaging at the Nebraska State Historical Society. Ms. Koelling was director of the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Library of Congress/Ameritech Project entitled "Prairie Settlement: A Story of Determination," which involved scanning approximately 3000 glass plate negatives and 325 letters relating to homesteading on the Great Plains. Currently, Ms. Koelling consults on digital imaging projects across the country. For the Omaha project, Ms. Koelling will plan and supervise the scanning of existing photographic images, and will digitally photograph Omaha artifacts at the University of Nebraska State Museum and the Museum of Nebraska History. She will answer technical questions from other institutions providing images to the project. Ms. Koelling will be assisted by a scanning technician.

Mark Nelson is Senior Museum Curator for the Nebraska State Historical Society. Mr. Nelson has served previously in curatorial positions at the Fort Bridger State Historic Site, Little Bighorn National Monument, and the Sweetwater County Historical Museum. Mr. Nelson will be responsible for selecting materials from the Museum of Nebraska History for digital photography, establishing space for Ms. Koelling to use while photographing, preparing descriptions of collection items for the database, and contributing explanatory text for the virtual exhibit.

1. Quality Control steps-- Digital Conversion Methodology

1. To ensure high quality digital files, each image will be evaluated twice. The scanning technician at the Ford Center, will examine the histogram at the time of capture and creation of the Master file. If the technician is satisfied with the scan, the file is stockpiled and eventually burned to a CD-ROM. At random, the Master files are examined by the Curator for Photographs to assure that all files meet the following criteria:

1. File format: Uncompressed TIFF files. A TIFF file is currently the most flexible file format for long-term storage of digital images. TIFFs can be turned into any other file format required, such as JPEGs or GIFs for world wide web viewing.
2. Resolution: The initial scans conducted by the Nebraska State Historical Society will be 800ppi uninterpolated, although resolutions as high as 3175 ppi uninterpolated are available. These higher resolutions are most helpful for very small originals and images that are heavily used and most important intellectually. Other institutions providing scans will be asked to provide TIFF files scanned at 600 dpi.
3. Histogram: Clipping and Spiking—Histograms offer the best view of tonal range captured by the NSHS Digitization Lab’s scanner and will be examined for clipping and spiking as well as the correct setting of white and black points. Clipping and spiking result when the white and black points are not set on true white and black during the set up for the scan. If white and black are improperly set, everything above or below those points is clipped or registers at the same tone. Spiking on the ends of the histogram usually indicates clipping. This problem also shows up in the image itself as blockage and pixelation in the shadows and blowouts in the highlights. Acceptable spikes can occur if the edge of the original negative has lost emulsion, for example, or the sky holds no detail and is one tone in the original.

1. Once the Master files pass quality control, thumbnail and reference files will be created. The technician will need to make some adjustments in contrast and cut back frame edges when creating trimmed-down files. Because of the manipulations necessary in PhotoShop™ to create snappy images for on-screen viewing, the thumbnails and reference files will undergo a more limited set of quality control procedures. The technician will examine the histogram for excessive gaps and check the shadow areas in the image for pixelation.

2. Web site quality control. The web site will be catalogued using OCLC. Cataloguing for artifacts and images will follow national standards for MARC records. Information about how to contact the web master will be available for people who have suggestions for improving the web site.
3. Web site evaluation. The number of hits on the Internet site will be tracked.
4. Collaboration. At the end of the project, project personnel and the consultants will meet to discuss the project’s strengths and weaknesses and the extent to which project goals and objectives were satisfactorily achieved. The participants will also discuss further areas for collaboration that may be possible as a result of the project.

Dissemination:

We anticipate that this project will be most useful to tribal members, educators, and the general public. Dissemination will be accomplished in the following ways:

1. Web site. The database will be available on the Internet along with representative images from collections worldwide. A search for "Omaha Indians" or other specific search terms should lead quickly to our web site. Web links will be established with sites that feature the Omaha Indians and the ethnography of other prairie or Plains tribes. These include sites such as the University of Nebraska State Museum, the Nebraska State Historical Society, and cooperating museums.
2. Publications. Project personnel will collaborate on articles concerning the project. Potential audiences include the anthropological community, the museum community, the library community, and the public.
3. Outreach. The partners will work closely with the Public Relations Office at the University of Nebraska to draft and disseminate press releases, news conferences, and other forms of outreach to inform Nebraska and the larger community (i.e. tribal councils, institutes of education, and the general public) on the development of this project.
4. Educational Tools. A print version of the database will be maintained at the University of Nebraska State Museum and a CD-ROM version of the database will be available at the UNL Libraries. A copy of the database will be provided to the Omaha Historical Research Project and its designees. The MetaCat software used for web image management will enable development of spin-off exhibits.
5. Public Presentations. A separate proposal to the Nebraska Humanities Council will be made after this project is completed to develop a public program about the project.

Sustainability:

This project will continue long after the granting period has expired. The database may require updating from time-to-time. It is our expectation that as knowledge of the Omaha Tribe grows, additional artifacts will be discovered. We also hope that the database and gallery exhibit encourage discussion that might be posted on the web site.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is committed to warehousing the web site (with images) on the University’s server after the project is completed. The data will be refreshed or migrated at regular intervals. Periodically, a follow up survey will be distributed via listserves to ensure that new archaeological discoveries concerning the Omaha are added to the database.

The primary budget requests for the project are:

Salaries and Fringe Benefits: one temporary position salary and fringe benefits. Managerial-Professionals at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are high level support positions requiring a BA or graduate work. The individual in the position will be vital to accomplishing the goals of the project. All other staff time and benefits on the project are match towards the grant. Nebraska State Historical Society includes benefits in their salaries.

Consulting fees: Omaha Indian consultants Hastings and Morris are being asked to devote up to 15 days per year on the project. The 15 days per year are for: 5 trips to Lincoln, 5 days to work with us on the Reservation, and 5 days to work with other Omaha tribal members or to do preparation & research that will assist us in developing a strong web site. Process is very important in working with the Omaha, and we believe that the number of days is justified in order to avoid communication problems with the Tribe.

Travel: Travel includes day trips for Lincoln personnel to travel to the Omaha Reservation; some modest funding for Hastings and Morris’s travel to Lincoln. We included a request for some subsistence in the event of bad weather coming up quickly (Nebraska is prone to sudden storms during winter and tornado season). One person from UNL and one person from the Nebraska State Historical Society will attend IMLS meetings in Washington DC.

Materials, supplies, equipment: UNL Libraries will purchase a computer for the project, and the UN State Museum will purchase a laptop for field work on the Reservation. Office supplies, computer supplies, and archival supplies will also be cost shared.

Services: Nebraska State Historical Society’s services are very reasonably priced for the high quality of work offered. The average price for most images that UNL has purchased from other institutions is usually in the $25 to $50 range. We chose $35 as an average.

Other: The software for image management on the web is also very reasonably priced, and we have had experience using an early version of the software. The monies requested are to upgrade software that UNL owns. Luna, a comparable package, runs in the $40,000+ range. We are also requesting monies to purchase blank CD-ROMs for burning images created for the project.

1. Describe types of materials to be digitized and the number:

Artifacts (three dimensional)—estimate 400

Photographs—estimate 600

2. Identify copyright issues and other potential restrictions:

Some of the images and artifacts will be in the public domain; however, we anticipate that those in private hands may require permissions, as well as images produced within the last seventy years. The UNL Libraries’ Copyright Coordinator, Ms. Agnes Adams, will be advising the Co-PIs regarding issues.

3. List the equipment with specifications, whether purchased, leased, or outsourced, that will be used (e.g. camera, scanner, server).

1. Camera. The camera owned by the Nebraska State Historical Society for digital photography is a Phase One FX Digital Camera. The Phase One FX is a high end digital scan back camera ideal for capturing artifacts. The FX fits on a Toyo 4x5 View Camera. Resolution is up to 10,500 x 12,600 pixels, totalling 396 million color pixels. File size: Uninterpolated files of 380 MB with a tonal depth of 36 bit, RGB.
2. Scanner: NSHS will use a Scitext EverSmart ProTM Scanner for digitizing photographs. Input modes are reflective, transparency, negative, positive, color, and B&W. This equipment is owned. It is a high resolution flatbed scanner that utilizes an 8000 pixel, anti-blooming CCD. It scans on both the X and Y axis enabling extremely high resolution over the entire image bed. Resolution is up to 3,175 ppi optical resolution [uninterpolated]. Dynamic range is 3.7, and tonal depth is 42 bits per pixel [14 bits per channel, RGB].
3. Power MacIntosh G4TM Workstation. 400 MHz PowerPC 604e Processor with 328 MB RAM, 8 GB Internal Hard Drive, 12x CD ROM Player, and Internal Zip Drive. Owned by NSHS.
4. ViewSonic PT810TM Monitor: 21" monitor with 19.3" viewable screen. 89 Hz refresh rate (currently the highest refresh rate for 1280 x 1024 resolution.). Owned by NSHS.
5. Smart & Friendly CD-Writers: Writes at 8x speed. Uses Toast Software. Owned

by NSHS.

6. Server: The University’s server that runs the campus wide information system (CWIS) is set up as a RAID, using Sun OS 5.7 operating system software. The server is owned by UNL.
7. Software:

1. Adobe Photoshop 5.5 TM and 6.0 TM. Owned respectively by NSHS and UNL.

4. Specify each type of file format (e.g. TIFF, JPEG to be produced and anticipated image quality of each (minimum resolution, depth, tone, pixels):

5.Describe the quality control plan. The following passages come from the Project Evaluation section of the narrative:

Quality Control steps-- Digital Conversion Methodology

6. Estimate cost per image. Include costs such as scanning, quality control, and indexing. Indicate the basis for calculation: The Nebraska State Historical Society charges $15 per scan and $20 per digital photograph. These figures include quality control costs. We are estimating $35/scan or image from other contributing institutions. This figure is based on experience in purchasing images for another project. Prices appear to range from about $25 to $50 per image.

7. Explain how you will describe the content through metadata, including which standard you will use (MARC, EAD, Dublin Core): We will be using Dublin Core for describing the individual images created or scanned by the project. The UNL Libraries currently uses Dublin Core for slide cataloguing.
8. Describe plans for preservation and maintenance of the digital files after the expiration of the grant period (i.e. storage systems, migration plans, and funding): The files will reside on the University’s main server, NU Frontier. The server is backed up regularly and is on a regular migration schedule, as dictated by system load and technological developments. The server is funded by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Information Services Division. As noted under no. 4, we will also burn masters to CD ROM and maintain a regular cycle of refreshing.
9. If you are producing collection level records, describe plans for submitting collection-level descriptive records to a bibliographic utility, such as OCLC. State reasons for selecting any alternative approaches. The UNL Libraries will be producing individual records for images and will be cataloguing the web site. At this time, we do not anticipate also creating a collection level record. This is because the individual items will come from a wide number of institutions and are not technically speaking a collection.
10. Describe plans for submitting information about the project to a national level register of digital resources, such as OCLC’s Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC). State reasons for selecting any alternative approaches: The web site will be catalogued on CORC. The UNL Libraries are actively cataloguing other web sites on CORC at this time.
11. Provide URLs for applicant’s previously-digitized collections:

Brief History of the University of Nebraska State Museum: The University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM) was organized by the Board of Regents in 1871, and its collections were established to support teaching and to document the natural history of the Plains. These two purposes have continued for over 130 years, and the current Mission broadened the use of collections to embrace research and exhibits, as well. The University completed construction of a museum building in 1888; however, in 1891 the biology collections were transferred to the departments of botany and zoology, leaving anthropology and geology in UNSM. In 1941, the natural history collections were again assembled under UNSM, although collections were physically in departments. In 1989, 21,000 ft² in an adjacent building was obtained for the remaining paleontology collections. From 1994-96, new facilities in a nearby building and in Nebraska Hall were acquired for the archaeology collection, which absorbed collections from the Department of Anthropology, and for the Parasitology Library/Informatics project, respectively. In 1998, space was added in Nebraska Hall for the Mylan Stout Library. Museum holdings now number over 15 million objects, and UNSM has become a major, comprehensive museum and is one of the five largest on a university campus

Construction of Morrill Hall was completed in 1927, providing 58,500 ft² for exhibits. In 1993, Elephant Hall was rededicated following complete refurbishment. This project was a major undertaking for the Friends. The Mesozoic Gallery involves extensive interactive exhibits that permit visitors to participate in a paleontological excavation and study. Cultural Diversity & Human Biology Anthropology exhibits feature African Heritages, Nomads of the Plains and Magic in Clay, and all of which have been completed since 1990. Planning is underway for a Health & Human Biology Gallery. The Mueller Planetarium, also in Morrill Hall, was established through a major donation in 1958, and a coordinator was retained. The Planetarium offers a wide array of celestial & laser programs and outreach via the museum’s web-site (www.museum.unl.edu).

The mission of the Nebraska State Historical Society is to safeguard and interpret Nebraska’s past. Founded in 1878, collections at the Society include ones relating to Native American tribes—including artifacts, photographs, and archaeological collections. The Omaha Tribe is represented by about 200 artifacts or images. In recent years, the Society has developed fruitful coalitions and partnerships with Native American tribes in Nebraska.

The Digital Imaging Laboratory of the Nebraska State Historical Society opened in 1998. It is a state-of-the-art lab offering the highest quality imaging services available to cultural collections. The lab is located in the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, with additional scanning services provided in the NSHS Headquarters Building in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation was incorporated in 1942 as a public, non-profit entity to receive private funds for the benefit of the Society. Roughly eighty percent of the Society’s budget, however, is derived from state funding.

For additional information about the Society, see its web site at http://www.nebraskahistory.org.

Myers, Co-Principal Investigator

Allison, Co-Principal Investigator

Mering, Cataloging Resource Person

Gardner, Cataloging Resource Person

Koelling, Curator of Photographs

Nelson, Senior Museum Curator

Hastings, Omaha Indian consultant

Morris, Omaha Indian consultant

Omaha (Indian) Historical Research Project Board minutes

Tribal Council letter forthcoming