The approach I took to resolve some of the complexities while processing the Nina V.

I approach these collections as a puzzle where I have to use the information I already know about what technology was available to the creator in determining what types of files were created and determine the best way to access them. I find science collections to be the most rewarding in terms of file complexity and variety.

When I process born-digital collections, the part that I enjoy the most is trying to determine the file format of an unknown file and finding the right tool for accessing files of this type. One of the central parts of my job as a processing archivist is to assess, or “appraise,” born-digital content that arrives in newly acquired collections. As the other Staff Innovator on the Born Digital Access Now! project, I will talk about obsolete Apple operating systems and the steps I took to preserve and access files created by obsolete Apple programs in the Nina V. Lorenz Papers, the Walter Sullivan Papers, and in the Seth McFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive. In previous born-digital blog posts, Kathleen O’Neill discussed working to preserve and access obsolete media and file formats from DOS based or older computer systems in the Edward N. In this post, Chad discusses his area of expertise, emulation, which imitates older operating systems in order to open outdated or legacy files that are no longer operable with contemporary operating systems or software. In her final post as a Staff Innovator, Kathleen O’Neill detailed the outcomes of the file format analysis. The challenges and obstacles of this process have been documented in a series of three blog posts by O’Neill.

In previous blog posts, Chad and Kathleen have shared publicly about their project, whose central aim is to research and understand the various file formats in the Library’s Manuscript Division collections containing born-digital material. Alongside Senior Archives Specialist Kathleen O’Neill, Chad is a 2020 Staff Innovator working on the project Born Digital Access Now! This is a guest post by Chad Conrady, Archives Specialist in the Manuscript Division. An Archivist’s Perspective on Legacy Files

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