Next Step: Publishing

Getting the book on geoglyphs published will be my first publication available in bookstores, museums gift shops, and online- a lasting work that I hope will inspire a whole new generation of archaeologists, ethnographic research, and interest in the desert Southwest and the people who have lived there for thousands of years.  I'm working not only with Harry Casey, the photographer and author of the manuscript, but with Sunbelt Publications.

Sunbelt Publications produces "well-crafted, award-winning books" that "celebrate the relationship of the land and its people."  Their books help "to discover and conserve the natural, historical and cultural heritage of unique regions" and focus on California, the Southwest, and Baja California, Mexico.

What does that mean? It means I'm very lucky that they are interested in working with me to get this book published!

Now that the manuscript is ready, the photographs have been digitized, all that's left is to raise the money for publishing.  The entire process will cost $10,600.  I need to have the first half ($5,300) to Sunbelt by October 30.

So as a true 21st century, social media answer, I've started a GOFUNDME campaign! Any help you can give is amazing, whether that's donations or sharing the campaign with others who can help. Anyone who donates will be thanked in the book. 

Part of the famous 'Blythe Giants' complex 

Thank you all for your support as I work to make this dream a reality!

Project Completed! For now

Archiving, accessioning to PastPerfect, digitizing, & encapsulating photos and slides

It's hard to believe it's nearly the end of September already.  A month ago I began an intense digitization project at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum with the goal of scanning all photographs in the Harry Casey Collection that connected to geoglyphs.  In a collection of more than 8,000 individual images, I knew the bulk of them pertained to geoglyphs, but what did that mean? All 8,000? 7,000?





30 days, 230.5 hours, and 2 scanners later, the answer is 4,462.  That's the number of photographs scanned, although there were over 1,000 duplicate copies of individual images.

2 scanners worked hard on this project!

What's next? What was the point of becoming the Mad Scanner? I'll be working with photographer Harry Casey and Sunbelt Publications to put together Harry's manuscript with accompanying images for publication.  The museum will apply for grants to create an interactive digital exhibit based on the work.  After that? There are plenty more ideas waiting to be implemented- not to mention almost another 4,000 photographs of rock art, Nazca Lines, and desert plants waiting to be scanned and create exciting, interesting, and beautiful exhibits!

A special thanks to Dr. David Breeckner, Angelina Coble, and Marcie Rodriguez for all their help with this project!

Marcie examines a slide