Author & Photo: The Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

Michael H. Finegan Collections of the Archives of the Institution of Taiwan History include copious photographs and post cards. These archives are mainly original copies and the publication year (Meiji, Taisho and Showa) and related references are well preserved. In addition, many photographic materials stored in the Institution of Taiwan History were collected from our researchers or donated by private collectors. These materials feature a wide range of topics including politics, economics, society and cultures. These images are precious historical resources that serve as research materials of Taiwan history, teaching materials of local education and museum exhibits. However, due to limited manpower in Historical Records Office (the predecessor of the ITH Archives), the materials were left unsorted. Few people know about these materials, let alone utilize them. Hence, in order to offer the archive as public references, image digitization and the establishment of a quality information system need to be done immediately.

In January 2003, National Science Council (now the Ministry of Science and Technology) initiated National Digital Archives Program and publicly quested for the establishment of digital database of precious artifacts and records. Director of the Preparatory Office of Institute of Taiwan History, Liu Ts’ui-jung, and Director of the Institute of Folk Arts of Taipei National University of the Arts, Chiang Shao-ying, cooperated on the main project “Taiwan Visual Memory Digitization and Preservation Project.” Historical Records Office was assigned to execute the subproject “Digitization and Analysis of the Photographic Materials Stored by the Institute of Taiwan History of Academia Sinica”, sorting photographic materials including old photographs and post cards.

The Institute of Folk Arts of Taipei National University of the Arts and the Institute of Taiwan History jointly cooperated to revise and establish an appropriate photographic database and its field design from 2002 to 2004. As of 2004, 2,168 photographic materials have been scanned, adjusted and added to the online database. Now, the result of the digitization project is merged into「Michael H. Finegan Collections」 which is in Taiwan Archival Information System. The archive is publicly available to researchers and readers who are interested to refer to this archive online.