Submitting Digital Material for Inclusion in the Archive
Materials that may be submitted
The DAAL’s Digital Archive makes it possible for persons to remotely contribute digitized materials to the Archive. Typically, such materials would be related to specific persons, families or organizations relevant to the mission of the DAAL “to collect, catalog, preserve and make available to the public, documents, photos and other media that show the rich history and contributions to American life of Danish Americans from immigration to the present day.”
Digitized materials that might be submitted could include biographical information, genealogical data, family histories, photographs, legal or historical documents, maps and so on. File types could include word-processing documents, spreadsheets, PDF (portable document format) files, sound recordings (AIF, mp3, WAV, etc), video (MPG, MP4 and similar) and others.
Submission Process and Restrictions
Submitted materials may be accepted by the DAAL for placement into appropriate areas within the Digital Archive based upon the content and the amount of material. Persons submitting the materials may indicate which, if any, of the materials they feel should be made available for public viewing and which should be restricted for private use by themselves or designated interested parties (family members, researchers, etc).
The DAAL relies upon volunteers for most of its operations. Therefore, the ability to review archival materials for appropriateness and suitability for use by the general public is limited. By default, materials are not made available for on-line use by the public until they have been internally reviewed and then only if the donor of the materials wishes them to be made public. In any case, the DAAL will restrict viewing of materials deemed sensitive for persons mentioned or described in them, particularly with regard to living persons. Information about persons not of majority age will not be made publicly viewable and may be restricted to viewing only by the person who submitted it.
In order to submit, view and organize digital materials, it will be necessary to provide us with an idea of the materials that you intend to include, their general scope and content and what kind of exposure is planned (public or restricted). In addition, persons wishing to submit materials through this process will need to contact us to arrange for a user account for this site. Note that we may also recommend alternative methods for uploading the materials based upon volume and anticipated file sizes.
Instructions for sending materials remotely
What happens after submitting files
The general process is for the donor to be provided with a private working area on the Digital Archive’s site to which files can be uploaded and, if desired, organized into folders. If the materials will include items that are intended for public use as well as others that will be kept private, the two types should be kept segregated and clear instructions provided to us about which files fit into each category. Once the files have been uploaded, email notification of this fact, along with the user name, should be sent to collections@danishamericanarchive.com.
Following a cursory review of the submitted files, materials considered appropriate for inclusion in the Archive will be placed within in it, and you will be notified of that location and given access to it. At that point, the materials will be viewable only by you. If access is desired for others, such as a family group, a user name and password for that person or group should be requested.
If you indicate that some of the material should be made available the the general public, that will not happen until DAAL staff or, more likely, a volunteer reviews those items and recommends which, if any, should be made available. (See above regarding items the would be restricted.)