Smithsonian Transcription Center
The Hewitt Sisters’ Diaries: Conservation and Digitization Behind-the-Scenes
This post was written by Katie Wagner, Senior Book Conservator, David Holbert, Digital Imaging Specialist, and Jacqueline E. Chapman, Head, Digital Library and Digitization. Learn more about the diaries of the Hewitt Sisters in a previous post by Jennifer Cohlman Bracchi.
Gilded Age Girls: Exploring the Travel Diaries of Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt
Curious what might life have really been like for two wealthy, unattached New York City sisters at the turn of the 20th century? Fictional sisters Ada and Agnes from HBO’s new series, The Gilded Age, could have been inspired in part by real sisters, Sarah (1859-1930) and Eleanor (1864-1924) Hewitt. Also known as “Sallie” and “Nellie”, without them the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and its library, would not exist.
Creating the Transcription Cleanup Tool
During my time in the Kathryn Turner Diversity and Technology Internship, I worked with my mentor to create a program/software that would take completed projects from the Smithsonian Transcription Center and clean up the data even further. However, I first had to begin with understanding what I was ‘cleaning up’.
