The Kempner Empire: Establishing Digitization Processes and Workflows for a Large-scale Collection

Abstract

With support from the Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund and the Rosenberg Library, the University of North Texas Digital Projects Unit has taken on the job of digitizing the Kempner family’s business papers, which span decades. One of Galveston’s most iconic families, the Kempner family influenced the social and philanthropic landscape of Galveston, and its members created an expansive economic empire. This presentation will breakdown the procedures created for a collection broken up in yearly batches of roughly 18,000 pages over six years. The project moves through digitization and metadata creation onto the Portal to Texas History. Providing digitization and international access to the collection is an innovative project, and certainly the largest project of its type in existence. This collection brings forward interests in farming, banking, business, travel, exports/imports, and family operations.