UVA Today announced the Jefferson Trust Grant awardees today, and Digitization Services is one of them! Christina Deane, Digitization Services’ department head, submitted the application to bring multispectral scanning to the digitization studio. From the UVA Today Article: “Funding for this project will allow the University Library to begin exploring multispectral imaging, opening new avenues of research to scholars with a modest investment of funds. Multispectral scanning is extremely useful in making obscured writings visible on palimpsests, severely damaged manuscripts and documents that are barely legible, allowing scholars and students to make discoveries that were previously impossible. Multispectral imaging reveals details that are invisible in white light by using multiple single wavelength scans to capture details from documents. The proposed project will digitize materials from the Thomas Jefferson collection with crossed out words and phrases. The Jefferson materials are just the beginning of the process, and this multispectral scanner is the entry point for the University to begin expanding digital imaging services to scholars.”

Check out UVA Today to read more about the Jefferson Trust program and this year’s other recipients.

Interested in multispectral scanning? Read more about how it works here or take a look at in action over at the Archimedes Palimpsest Project.