Preserving material at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York | Phase One

“It was clear even to the non-technical people, the superiority of the Phase One system. There are things that the camera can see, which the eye almost can't see.” - Graham Haber, Photographer at The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.

The Cultural Heritage world is diverse, with many different needs and challenges. Phase One wants to safeguard the future by preserving the past. Therefore, we offer digital, modular and configurable solutions, which can be tailored to all specific needs such as reprographic camera systems, scanners, film scanning kits and more.

Preserving the past for the future is often a race against time, as much of the material has a limited lifespan before it is gone forever, thus solutions that enable rapid capture are not only necessary, but often crucial.

The Morgan Library & Museum was founded by J.P. Morgan. He was a voracious collector collecting every kind of art but he was especially passionate about books. The collection is over half a million objects but of those objects many of them a made up of hundreds of parts. Digitization of his collection is a massive undertaking.

Graham Haber:
"We digitize parts of the collection as books are created or for scholars on request or we digitize whole objects for facsimile or for scholarship. The two cameras that we’ve are the DT RCam camera bench with a motorized head, Schneider lens, and Schneider electronic shutter. On top is an IQ180, which I can also put on the 645DF and I can take that around the museum, I can do exterior shots, portraits, I can shoot three-dimensional objects.”

"The most important thing as a cultural heritage institution is preserving the material. Only a certain number of people can look at a 700-year-old manuscript without creating a lot of damage to that manuscript but by having very high quality imaging, there is no need for that. At the same time getting the best capture, the best fidelity, the best colour that is available.”

From December 2012 to December 2013 Graham Haber has made about 7000 images.

Marilyn Palmeri, Imaging and Rights Manager:
"It seemed like a no-brainer to work with Digital Transitions and Phase One because there was already so many cultural heritage institutions working with Phase One cameras and the Capture One system, that there was a community we could rely on, and they understand the needs of the community."

For Graham Haber, the most important thing as a cultural heritage institution is to preserve the material. It’s only a certain number of people, who can look at a 700-year-old manuscript without creating a lot of damage, but by having very high quality imaging, there is no need for that. And at the same time getting the best capture, the best fidelity, the best color that’s available.

One of the priced pieces of The Morgan Library & Museum collection is the Gutenberg Bible. That completely changed the dissemination of knowledge in its time. Digitization allows a similar dissemination and so a similar revolution is going on now. It breaks down the walls of time and space and now it is accessible to the entire world.

Learn more about Cultural Heritage: https://www.phaseone.com/en/Camera-Sy...

Try Phase One: http://www.phaseone.com/demo
Download Capture One: http://www.phaseone.com/download

Phase One partner:
Digital Transitions (DT)
http://www.digitaltransitions.com

DT Division of Cultural Heritage:
http://www.dtdch.com/