Patrolling the Past: Bringing the Papua New Guinea Colonial-Era Reports into the Digital Realm
Abstract
The Papua New Guinea patrol reports are important primary sources for the pre-independence history of the country and continue to be useful in contemporary PNG. In the 1980s, the University of California, San Diego Library (UCSD) initiated and supported a project to provide better access to the reports housed in the National Archives of Papua New Guinea, resulting in production by the Archives of a large set of microfiche, with copies that were eventually purchased by institutions in Australia, New Zealand and the US. Over the last several years, UCSD’s Digital Library Development Program has been engaged in a project to digitize the reports and make them accessible online, working from the microfiche. This presentation will provide an overview of the materials, the intricacies of their organizational structure, research interest and use of the collection, and the processes used to bring the project to fruition.
Presented at the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA), Pearl Harbour, Fiji, September 5, 2017