Phase I
In its initial phase, the combined MOA collection at the University of Michigan and Cornell University included over 1.5 million images, representing approximately 5,000 volumes of primary source materials. The selection process at Michigan focused on monographs in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, science and technology, and religion. The Cornell process focused on the major serials of the period, ranging from general interest publications to those with more targeted audiences (such as agriculture).
The thematic focus of the initial phase--antebellum period through reconstruction, 1850-1877--was chosen for several reasons:
- the extant literature is manageable, so a cohesive body of material in digital form could be assembled quickly
- publications from this period are not covered by copyright protection
- scholarly and general interest in this period of American history remains high, thus increasing the potential of the collection to support the research and teaching needs of the partner institutions
- this core collection will serve as the foundation for an extended distributed collection as the project grows
- much of the literature of this period is deteriorating rapidly; to preserve its informational content, the materials must be reformatted.
Phase II
In 1999 and 2000, the University of Michigan Library undertook an eighteen-month effort to establish benchmarks and guidelines for the provision of online access to preservation-quality digital books. This effort used the Making of America initiative as a foundation for validating, elaborating, and documenting methods employed by U of M in the initial project. Approximately 2,347,044 pages of content were be added to the already extensive and well received Making of America collection. The materials for conversion came from a rich set of candidate materials in the University of Michigan Library's Buhr storage facility. We chose to convert the 7,576 English language volumes with US imprints published between 1850 and 1876; the materials are largely in the humanities and social sciences disciplines. The breadth and comprehensiveness of the works included in this project significantly enriched the Internet-accessible resources available to the growing community of users.