In efforts to increase visibility and preserve the resources of the Archives of the Big Bend, the Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library is proud to introduce new Digital Collections, accessible on the Library’s website.

Digital Collections and Metadata Librarian Emily Huang started work at Sul Ross in October building the Digitization Lab, which includes Digital Imaging Technician Michael Howard and Library Assistant in Digital Imaging (and recent SRSU grad) Al Gomez.

“Emily assembled workflows and best practices for digitizing photos, manuscripts, and rare books,” said April Aultman Becker, Dean of Library and Research Technologies.  “She has also worked closely with Senior Archivist Melleta Bell to assign metadata description to the images and collections so that the scanned items are useful to the general public.”

Becker added that the Digitization Lab, located on the second floor of the Library, is aiming to continuously publish digitized collections during the Spring 2020 semester.

“This makes the unique treasures of the Archives of the Big Bend more discoverable to people around the world,” she said.

Becker noted that the first collections to be published include Sul Ross Brand yearbooks, old pictures of scenes around Alpine, and portraits found in a home in Valentine, Texas.

In-person visits to the Archives of the Big Bend are available to the public.

The Archives has a closed reading room but visitors are welcome during regular hours, Monday through Friday, 1 PM to 5 PM.

Learn more about the Archives of the Big Bend at library.sulross.edu/archives.