Chris Pattillo is collecting "Quarantine Quests," stories of
genealogical projects and discoveries made by our members while
sheltering at home due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This story was shared by CGS Board
Member Arlene Miles.
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| Jamaica is one of the places in Long Island, New York that Arlene Miles lived |
The collection was started by her husband Ted – a regular
visitor to the CGS Library. In his youth Ted had a vision problem that made it
difficult for him to take photographs so his mother agreed to let Ted buy
postcards of the places he visited and things he saw. Before he and Arlene
married in 1984 Ted had already compiled a sizeable collection of postcards
that reflect his life and his personal interests in trains, historic homes, streetcars,
sailing ships, lighthouses and more.
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| Ted Miles's collection includes many historic buildings such as the Wading River Congregational Church on Long Island, New York, where he and Arlene were married |
Arlene considered
several scanner models before deciding on the Brother DS-720D, a small, compact unit that sells
for $129 (she found one on sale for $109 at Office Max). “It is
easy to use, will scan one or both sides, does full-color scanning and is
self-feeding,” she says. She estimates that she can scan about 400 postcards in two
hours. Images can be saved as either a PDF or JPG file.
The scanner comes with software that helps you organize,
label and add information for each card. Arlene and Ted are maintaining the
same organizational system that they created for the original cards – so they
are grouped by subject matter. After the cards have been scanned Arlene uses Picasa
software to crop, straighten, adjust the brightness, and make whatever
adjustments are needed.
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| St John's Church in Riverhead, Long Island, New York |
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| The Miles collection includes postcards from 42 towns in Long Island, New York |
