Update: Campaign website now up! http://digitisethedawn.org
In 1888 Louisa Lawson launched The Dawn; a journal for women. The publication’s purpose was to be a “phonograph to wind out audibly the whispers, pleadings and demands of the sisterhood”. It advised on women's issues, including divorce, the age of consent, and women's right to vote. As well as operating as an important vehicle for the communication of feminist politics the paper also contained short stories, fashion notes, sewing patterns and reports on women's activities around the country and overseas. By October 1889, the Dawn office employed ten women as typesetters, printers, binders, and unskilled workers. They were harassed by male workers, and by their male union, The New South Wales Typographical Association. In 1905, after seventeen years, the publication ceased production.
From: http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0641b.htm
The National Library of Australia does not currently plan to digitise The Dawn, and there is no funding to do so. I've been informed $7,500 should be sufficient to see the entire publication digitised. It is currently available on microfilm in major libraries around the country, but adding it to the Trove Project would open access to this important resource for feminist historians around the world.
Australia was one of the first places to grant women the vote. The Dawn played a key role in the struggle for Australian women's suffrage.
Comments
5 comments postedProject Gutenberg of Australia eBook No.: 0606891Selected Lead Articles from The Dawn - this should help provide some text to the digitized images.
NLA Catalog item: Publication history: Series date(s): Vol. 1, no. 1 (15 May 1888)-v. 17, no. 3 (July 1905)
Reproduction note: Microreproduction. Sydney : W. & F. Pascoe, 1986. 3 microfilm reels.
The SLV copy may required searching for.
Location: Microfilm - Send request - Collect in Information Centre
Call Number: LTM 106
Status: Overdue - Due on 2010-08-26 22:00:00
It sounds like fiche scanning can be highly automated, maybe film scanning too.
W & F Pascoe sell the Dawn reels for ~AUD230 and provide scanning services.
If automated maybe they'd consider scanning at cost - or do you think that part of the cost could be buying out their rights?
@rdb
Thanks! I think I'll re-post the selected articles to the campaign website I'm putting together today.
I'm afraid I don't have a breakdown of costs or details on what volunteer effort would be needed. This is in the early stages, and at this point the main aim is simply to raise the funds to give to the National Library of Australia to add The Dawn to the list of publications to be digitised and added to Trove.
Once that happens - I think we should rally an army of volunteers to assist with proof reading and corrected the OCR online at the Trove website.
And yes, I believe they would Digitise The Dawn using the existing microfilm. It's a relatively small collection having been published monthly from 1888 to 1905. The original estimate cost was $6,000 plus GST - I have increased the campaign goal to $7500 'just in case' it turns out to be slightly more than that, and as a buffer for unexpected costs associated with making sure this happens :)
I don't know whether the OCR tools they're using can in some way "prepare the cache" with samples of the typeface or fonts derived therefrom.
If so and they're not doing it already, then perhaps the Melbourne Museum of Printing might be able to help to identify typefaces, provide samples and or fonts to which they have rights for some funding or volunteering, ... improving Trove's OCR more generally would help ...
As always, PayPal sucks.
I'll put actual money towards this. But it needs to be clear that it goes to the NLA, and that it is earmarked for this project if a sufficient amount is raised within a reasonable timeline.
Surely there is a reasonable way for the NLA to collect money under such terms?
@Chaals
Yep I agree paypal sucks - and I would gladly use an alternative if there was one. If you're aware of an alternative to paypal, please do let me know.
In the meantime - I am putting together a website. I'll post details for alternative payment options including direct transfer for those with Australian bank accounts, and money orders will be received at a PO Box.
As to the NLA being able to collect money directly for this campaign, that's a good suggestion, I shall make inquiries.
cheers
Donna
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