A local framing company removed images removed the image from the frames and digitally scanned and saved them in their actual size without any color correction. Those images were then uploaded by a photo restoration expert for correction, requiring continuous feedback/monitoring until the expert had correctly and fully restored the images.
The corrected images are ink jet-printed with UV-protected ink on 16x20 archival gloss paper, mounted back into the original frame, and sealed with an acid-free dust cover. The projected life of these images is 150 years while in the framed glass.
Now rehung in the gallery, a placard reads: “The original En Banc photograph is enclosed in this frame. The photograph was digitally scanned to restore and preserve the color image. The file used to create the inkjet print and the original scanned image are stored on the archival hard drive in the Court library.”
Additional Preservation Efforts
The Florida Supreme Court Historical Society also provides funds for the archiving of the justices’ papers stored in their original acidic folders. Justice Overton, who served on the Court from 1974 to 1999, was also instrumental in this project.
After donating his “chamber papers” to the Supreme Court Library in 2009, he encouraged others who served on the Court to donate their personal and official papers to the Supreme Court Library, which has been continuously in existence since 1845.
To ensure these historic records would remain for generations to come, the Court with funding from the Historical Society, began the process of upgrading the overstuffed, acidic accordion folders to subdivided, archive-quality folders.
The collection of papers included in this project are housed in the Archival Collection of the Florida Supreme Court and include numerous chamber papers donated by former justices.
After his death in 2012, the Overton’s children, William, Robert, and Catherine, donated 124 boxes, comprising 186 cubic feet of papers. His is, so far, the second largest donation to the Supreme Court Library’s archives as of September 2022.
