Marines

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A collection of art prints from the era of World War II is filed in the Historical Reference Branch collection of records, artwork and photos. Teams of interns have worked with the oral history, film and Historical Reference Branch departments to digitize files. Their contributions include creating an inventory, cleaning and scanning files.

Photo by Ida Irby

Marine Corps History Division moves into the digital age

3 Sep 2015 | Ida Irby Marine Corps Base Quantico

Marine Corps History Division works daily to convert an accumulation of historic files into digitized catalogues which can be accessed for historical reference. The history of the Marine Corps is vast and digitizing historic media from year-to-year has been labor intensive. Civilian Marines have worked long hours to digitize the massive libraries of Marine Corps records, film and art from the 20th Century.

Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Simmons Marine Corps History Center is slated to house both the Oral and Video History Division and the Reference Library at Marine Corps University aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico. Historical references and archives from World War II, Korean War, invasion of Grenada, Vietnam War, to current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will be centralized in one location.

Military files come in almost every format. The Department of Defense utilized the latest technology to support the troops in each of our nation’s conflicts. Throughout history, however, updating digitizing technology has not been inexpensive or quick.

For more than two years, Tom Baughn, MCHD historian, has worked to catalog, digitize, and preserve historic audio and video footage. The backlog includes WWII footage on 16mm films and 35mm films, more than 8,500 VHS, UMatic, and Hi-8 tapes from the 1980s.

The University of South Carolina, University Library, is working in concert to repair, clean and digitize some of the oldest film reels in the collection in order to create cost-effective and up-to-date high definition footage.

“Creating high definition video footage and proper cooled storage would cost the Corps at least 5 million dollars in staff and equipment,” said Baughn. “The best long-term life for the films is with experts who understand how to bring that history into the digital age.”

Fred H. Allison, oral historian, echoed the benefit of having outdated reel-to-reel recordings digitized. The oral history collection of approximately 25,000 interviews was established in 1965. Today, 85 percent of the collection has been updated to standardized formats.

“Interviews of Marines in Vietnam serve as a great tool as we celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the end of the war,” said Allison, a former Marine, who works daily to create recourses of historic information through detailed interviews with Marines involved in some of America’s most significant conflicts.

The Historical Reference Branch at MCU answers more than 6,000 queries each year from the presidential speech writing teams, members of congress, active duty servicemembers, veterans, and even television shows like Jeopardy.

Kara Necomer, a historian in the Marine Corps History Division, admits, although technology has changed, her team of interns and historians still battle the operational challenges of converting more than 100,000 files records and photos into digital images.

“The purpose of the office has always been to answer the hard questions,” said Newcom who referenced the collection of working files which help her and her team to answer important questions about military history. “We don’t hold every single record in the history of the Corps, but we can point patrons in the right direction.”

Although some information is restricted, mush of the material has been declassified and is releasable to the public. The historians on staff are available to answer queries and help search archives for persons interested in the Corps history.
Marine Corps Base Quantico