Digitization
The Presbyterian Historical Society provides in-house digitization services for PC(USA) congregations, mid councils, and the general public. High quality digital facsimiles provide unlimited, remote access to collections and protect materials from damage and deterioration by eliminating the need to handle fragile originals. Digitization is available for bound or flat original materials up to 16" x 24".
Rates and Specifications
Patron Type | Rates | Set-up fee | Specifications |
| PC(USA) Churches | $0.80 per image | None | 24-bit color, 300 dpi, PDF**, OCR included*** |
| General Public | $0.90 per image | $30 | 24-bit color, 300 dpi, PDF**, OCR included*** |
Shipping
Domestic shipping is billed at a flat rate of $10.00. International shipments will be billed at cost. Please contact the Reference Desk at refdesk@history.pcusa.org for an estimate.
Set-up fee and deposits
There is a one-time $30.00 project set-up fee for general public digitization requests. Digitization requests under $50 must be paid in full in advance. All orders estimated at $50 and over require a deposit equal to 50% of the estimated cost. The remainder of the cost will be billed upon completion of the project.
**Digital surrogates are delivered as PDF files, and a PDF/A preservation master file is saved permanently at PHS. PDF/A is an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard Portable Document Format suitable for the long-term preservation of page-oriented documents.
***Please note: Documents are made text searchable whenever possible. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software will not work with handwritten text, some older printed or decorative fonts, and certain languages.
Interested in requesting digitization? Contact the Reference Desk at refdesk@history.pcusa.org
Select pages, images, and chapters will not be digitized. The society reserves the right to determine the reproduction medium and equipment used, contingent upon the condition, size, and quantity of materials requested. The society reserves the right to refuse an order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would damage the item or involve violation of copyright law.
Alternate file formats and resolutions are available by request.
Digitization orders require approximately 1 to 3 months to complete, depending on the size of the project. Large requests may require additional time. Please contact us for an estimate.
download link: free
CD/DVD/USB: +$15 each
All responsibility for copyright infringement, questions arising from copyright, and the use of reproductions is assumed by the person submitting the digitization request. The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified by the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the reproduction not be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a reproduction for purposes in excess of this fair use, that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
Financial Assistance for PC(USA) Congregations
PC(USA) congregations that are 50+ years old with 200 members or less may qualify for financial assistance to digitize their records. You must include your most recent budget to be considered. PHS staff review and select applications for funding on a rolling basis throughout the year.
PC(USA) Entities: Preparing your records for digitization
- Submit a letter from the clerk of session or stated clerk authorizing us to digitize your records, including instructions about whether or not we should hold your records on deposit. The society will store your records in our climate-controlled archives free of charge and provide you with limited reference services in your records. You retain ownership.
- Make an inventory of your records; arrange them in correct chronological sequence and identify them so we understand what they are.
- Remove all fasteners and loose papers you do not want digitized. Please do not use adhesives (i.e. Post-it™ notes or tape) for labeling as they will leave a residue that will eventually damage your records.
- If you are including binders, please do not lock the bindings.
- Pack records in a sturdy, corrugated cardboard box, densely enough that volumes are unlikely to shift, and insulated from the edges of the box with bubble wrap or wadded packing paper. We recommend shipping by United Parcel Service because of their tracking system. If you decide against digitization, or if you need your records returned to you once digitization is complete, we will ship your records back to you free of charge.
Ship to:
Presbyterian Historical Society/Digitization Services
425 Lombard Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
LOCATION AND HOURS
425 Lombard St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri: 9 am to 4 pm
CONTACT US
Phone: (215) 627-1852
Email: refdesk@history.pcusa.org