IWM archive losses material

[Schirmmutze]

I'm interested in obtaining copies of the Luftwaffe losses list held at the IWM. In the educated opinions of the members here, would that be a worthwhile avenue of research? In other words, are the records held there of high quality or just poor quality scans of the originals that can't be read?

I live and work in London and being a graphic designer, I have experience with scanners and producing high quality digital documents. I also have some free time on my hands these days and would be more than willing to look into contacting the IWM with the possible intention of scanning these documents and making them available online for everyone. I don't see any issue with copyright laws. I understand that this information was made available via cd's for sale years ago. It's not my intention to make a profit out this at all though, I'm merely interested in obtaining some info for myself and thought that I could benefit everyone at the same time.

Is that something that would be of interest? and does anyone here have any advise about how I can the ball rolling?

Thanks
Ben

[Larry deZeng]

Here's a little information. At the time I bought them from the IWM 25 years ago, they only came in one format: 35 mm microfilm retailed at $90 U.S. per roll, of which there were 12 rolls in all. The paper copies were returned to the FRD in the early 1970s. IWM at this time only has them in the film format, I think.

Meanwhile, in Deutschland, BA-MA Freiburg sells them to researchers in microfiche or 35 mm reel format. The researcher had a choice.

Within the past 10 years or so, they have also become available in CD format, but I do not know from whom.

L.

[Schirmmutze]

Thank you Larry!
So, do you think that if I managed to work with the IWM in scanning the microfilm and uploading the data to a free online source that that would be worthwhile or not?
I'm new to this and am unsure whether this information is what I personnaly need to answer the questions I have because I've never seen it but like I said, I'm willing to take this on as a project if the demand is there. If it is, I can phone the IWM tommorrow to discuss.
Cheers
Ben

[Larry deZeng]

I think you are doing exactly the right thing, Ben, in soliciting opinion here before proceeding. Hopefully, enough of the members will express their thoughts to give you some idea of the demand for what you propose.

Personally, I think researchers would much, much prefer to work with your scans that with the film or fiche, these being cumbersome as well as requiring the purchase of microfilm equipment.

However, the fly in the ointment may be the IWM. They may have some licensing rights to the film and not want a competitor unless the competitor pays them a fee.

Larry

[Chris Goss]

Ben: I have a friend who wishes to get rid of his fiche copies if that helps?

[RudiS]

I think a lot of people would be interested to be able to consult these files on line.

Regards,
Rudi.