DEAR FRIENDS:
This is the tenth bulletin on progress of the COMSAT Legacy Project.
ORGANIZATION
Incorporation of the nonprofit COMSAT Legacy Foundation is imminent as is the
signature by Lockheed of the agreement to license us to use the COMSAT logo
and trademark. Lockheed has already turned over the artwork so that we should
be able to move promptly once these actions are completed.
The call for volunteers has produced some good results. Mike Hulley is handling the digitization of COMSAT records, Geoff Brown will produce digital photo galleries and Steve Teller will undertake web site development. Our web site registrations for COMSAT-Legacy.org and COMSAT-Legacy.com have been turned over to Steve. Steve also serves as Custodian for the COMSAT collection at Clarksburg housed in the two rooms he has generously provided in his secure facility. Hale Montgomery continues to lead the effort in video production. No volunteer has surfaced, as yet, for Artifacts and Exhibits. I hope someone will rise to the challenge of organizing a proposal for the new Udvar-Hazy museum.
Videos
Last month, Hale, Steve and I met in Clarksburg with Mike Mashon, Curator of
the Moving Image Section of the Library of Congress. He provided much useful
advice and showed great interest in the collection. We played for him the
preliminary Charyk Early Bird video and he was very favorably impressed. There
is a possibility that LOC might digitize a few of our films for us. We
promised to forward a catalog of the videos and give him a list of the people
interviewed in the COMSAT History Project for possible interest elsewhere in
the LOC.
Thanks to the industrious assistance of Linda Brobst and her husband, Bill,
our 245 videos are now catalogued in EXCEL format. This will be sent to LOC
shortly; the list of interviewees has already been sent. Our next step will be
to set priorities for the video conversion program.
Photos
Geoff Brown is off and running on the photo and slide collection. He hopes
to do a top level catalog and has taken home the 35 mm slide collection I
sorted last year to begin work on our digital galleries. He has issued a first
report on his efforts to catalog the 17 boxes of photographic materials and has
sent me a CD with the first batch of 35 mm conversions. Eventually, I will be
calling for volunteers to participate in viewing sessions to identify
items-satellites, earth stations, etc.
Digital Processing
Steve Teller has just announced that his digital image scanning system is up
and running in Clarksburg. The Digital Photo Scanning capabilities include 3
standard scanners, one Minolta DiMage High Resolution slide & negative
scanner, and one MicroTek 9800 XL Large Flat bed High resolution scanner, each
of which has a dedicated >2 GHz computer. Two of the systems can write DVDs or
CDs. Video Capabilities include a Panasonic DVD recorder with hard disk, VHS VCR,
Beta VCR, and a Large Format (3/4") Commercial VCR with two computers setup
for DV recording and DVD copying. He has future plans to add a Digital Audio
studio for digital audio copying. This is a great setup but the activity will
still be labor-intensive so if you would like to offer help to Mike Hulley,
please contact him directly or notify me and I will pass your message on.
Artifacts
The ceremonial shovel from the Roaring Creek ground breaking has been sent to
Roaring Creek where it is now on display. There is no other progress in this
area to report.
Financial Note
You have not received financial reports because there is little to report.
Those of you who have contributed cash may wish to know that most of your money
is still sitting in the COMSAT Legacy bank account; the current balance is
$1542.08. The only significant expenditure other than the monthly bank fees has
been $100 for the digital conversion of the Early Bird film. Our good fortune
is largely attributable to the huge contribution from Steve Teller both in
the form of storage facilities and in the digital processing center he has just
established.
Edward J. Martin
President
7122 Plantation Lane
Rockville, MD 20852
Telephone: (301) 770-0984
Fax: (301) 881-5726
E-mail:
edmartin752@aol.com