Seymour Durst’s Old York Library Collection

Comprised of more than 20,000 items, including postcards, books, maps, and more, Seymour Durst’s Old York Library Collection has been digitized as part of the $4 million gift from the Durst family. $1.2 million of that gift was earmarked for the cataloging, housing, and digitization of the collection, and preparation of the digital Old York Library is underway.  The digital Old York Library Collection is the first specialized collection to be built on and take advantage of the Digital Library Collections Website infrastructure and showcases the ways that LDPD is streamlining the digital project website creation process by leveraging the DLC Blacklight Hydra code base.  Using this strategy, custom collections take advantage of already-existing functionality while also pushing the development of new features and functionality that can then be leveraged by the other collections in the site.  The Durst project, for instance, brings the ability to display search results on an interactive map and the integration of GeoData using the open street maps API.  The content capabilities native to the DLC will be seen to great advantage when exploring this wonderful, and often whimsical, collection of NY- and NYC-related memorabilia.  Some gems to watch for include fascinating photo books that exemplify a then-current cultural trend (perhaps the initial instigation for Instagram?).