Joplin

[Mhayes]

Hi Everyone,

This last Monday and Tuesday I have been in Joplin to touch base with Angela Walters of Lost Photos of Joplin and Thad Beeler, Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church in Carthage. It was great meeting them and all of the volunteers at the church that took turns working on the photos. It is impressive what is going on there to save photos from the debris. All of the photos---20,000 and counting--come into the church to be tagged and scanned. They have a good system set up, but when I offered some help, Thad was interested in getting copies of the photos that were brought in from the Houck Storage.

The previous weekend there had been a public showing of those photos in the gym, but not many photos had been claimed. I came down with our copy stand, lights and the help of my sister. We got 362 photos. That doesn't sound like much and it really isn't, but it involved tagging each table with a number---starting with 012 and then breaking down each pile of photos to have stickers on the back and one to photograph with the photo that would later be used for reference. Then a sequence number was added. Example: 012_001_001. The next group of photos would have the middle number change to 002 and would go up for how ever many groups were on the table.

The idea was to help so that images can be posted on the Web. Those photos taken with a camera and high resolution could later be uploaded to our galleries after the owner signed the release. There were plenty of photos that had damage, but also a lot that didn't. We also started doing oversized photos and art and those were so large that an easel was used to mount them on. The largest was 23 1/2 x 35 1/2. The three Epson scanners were donated and I think great for posting to the web, but for our use the copy stand is better. I had a chance to compare the same photo taken at the copy stand and the other from the scanner. At 100% the copy stand has better detail and the scanner is doing what looks like a dust and scratches correction which for restoring is not good.

In October when OPR has our copy run at the main library in Joplin, hopefully there will be plenty of people who were able to retrieve their photos.

Tuesday before we made the 4 hour trip back, we headed to  south part of Joplin to see the damage. A lot of the debris has been cleared, except for the large buildings. There are also a lot of new homes going up, but when I talked to one lady whose home was destroyed and she is now living in Branson, she remarked that it is not the same neighborhood. Where once there were houses, duplexes are being built and she had no desire to return.

Yesterday Joplin was in the news because of school starting. There were so many schools destroyed and seeing it first hand leaves you feeling sad.







 
It is amazing to see how many people are volunteering to help and when you get there, you wish there was more you could do. I look forward to OPR being back in October

Margie

[Hannie]

Margie, thanks for your report.  Such sad photos, it reminds me of images from New Orleans.

So many photos, I can't begin to think how hard it will be to get those organized!
Interesting that you were able to compare the scanned and photographed version.  The Epson scanner uses Digital Ice and it should be disabled for the type of scanning that we do.
Still, I'm sure the camera does a better job than the scanner.

Hannie

[PhotoBob]

Hannie,

We have the high end Epson V750 Pro scanner here at work. Digital Ice on it is no better than a heavy application of "dust and scratches" filter. Plus it slows it WAY down. Digital Ice on a dedicated film scanner works fantastic - but not on a flatbed.  I was very disappointed when I tried it on the Epson. Just marketing fluff.  >:(

Bob

[Hannie]

Bob, Digital Ice reminds me of Dolby in audio cassette recording in the 80s.  It would filter out the high frequency sounds and then when you played the tape back it would sound like there was a wet blanket on the speakers.   :)

Hannie

[Judy]

I am looking forward to when the photos come in from Joplin -- thanks for the report.

The pictures of school yards made me think of the kids and I thought that people on here might be interested that the sewing groups (ASG, etc.) had projects to make the children clothes for their first day of school.  Some of the sewers have gotten so involved in this they are continuing their clothes projects and encouraging others to do so.

Judy

[PhotoBob]

Margie, my heart really goes out to those people. Maybe because it's so close to home, maybe because the destruction is so wide spread and so many good people lost their lives.  :-[   When your doing your copy run I'll be with you in spirit, waiting here at home to jump in and help.

PhotoBob

[glennab]

Margie, thanks for the report on your trip to Joplin.  I suspect that the early contact will make the run go much smoother.  I wish I could be there to help you. 

I suspect we'll have plenty to keep us busy after October.  I certainly hope that the "orphan" photos can be matched to their owners. I wonder how many people walked away expecting that nothing could have survived the tornadoes only to have family history waiting for them at the drop off points.

The photos rip my heart out.

Bless!

GK

[Mhayes]

Bob and GK, hopefully there will be plenty of photos for you when we return. You will be with us in spirit and we hope to keep everyone posted on the forum while we are there.

So much of the debris has been removed which makes things look more cleaned up, but on the other hand more barren. I think what got me the most is that you expect houses and trees to be destroyed, but large buildings I did not. Probably the first photos coming out with the press was St. John's hospital and it is unbelievable what the tornado did to it and the people that were killed inside. Here are two photos---one of St. John's Hospital and I do not know what the other building's name.


St. John's Hospital


Unknown

Margie