The St. Gallen Abbey Archives will digitise 2.2 million pages.
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The St Gallen Abbey Archives has launched a major project to digitise its collections. By the end of 2028, around 2.2 million pages from historical books and records are to be preserved for research and future generations.
Specifically, around 1.5 million pages and 700,000 images from the archive’s holdings are to be digitised by the end of 2028, the St Gallen Abbey Archives stated in a press release on Thursday. These include, among other things, account books, letters, minutes and collections of legal texts.
According to the press release, the contracted firm, GBL Gubler AG from Frauenfeld, has set up a digitisation studio in the archive’s former reading room to carry out the project. Two scanners currently enable up to 2,800 images to be scanned per day.
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Books, scriptures and architecture
Workflows tested on holdings in Pfäfers
To protect the valuable originals, David Kastlunger, the archive’s conservator-restorer, is overseeing the process, the statement added. For particularly delicate books, a special scanner with a V-shaped book cradle is used. Thanks to this, the books do not need to be opened fully.
The collection of the former Pfäfers Monastery served as a pilot project. Using this smaller but diverse collection, the archive tested and optimised its workflows. This project has now been completed.
Entire collection to be digitised by the end of 2028
The canton states that the primary aim of digitisation is to ensure the long-term preservation of the collections. However, it also lays the foundations for future digital publication and facilitates access for researchers.
Important sub-collections were already digitised in 2008 and 2018. Upon completion of the current project, the entire historical collection of the Abbey Archives will be digitally preserved.
The project costs just under CHF1 million ($1.2 million). Funding is being provided jointly by the Abbey Archives’ two sponsoring bodies: the canton of St Gallen and the canton’s Catholic denomination.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
