Digitizing 52 Years of American Heritage

Complex Conversion Reintroduces Beloved Publication to Loyal Readers, and New Generation

Challenge

American Heritage magazine has chronicled the American experience what makes life in the United States different from life anywhere else since 1954. In 28,240 pages published in more than 300 issues over 50 years, American Heritage magazine has covered serious concerns and colorful sidelights, powerful institutions and ordinary people, skillfully drawing on the past to illustrate the present.

In early 2005, American Heritage realized that developing a Web site that incorporated its complete archives would be a great way to reintroduce the magazine to the many people who had grown up as readers. This archived content would also serve as a rich, credible base from which to launch new content, including articles, blogs and pictures that the magazine intended to update daily.

Unfortunately, back issues of the magazine were available only in print, with only a few complete sets available. The magazine needed to digitize these issues to preserve them and make them available online. However, the magazine’s multiple column format, which included photos and graphics, made digitization a complex process, which meant they needed to work with an experienced provider...