Digitize on Demand

We're very excited to offer a remarkable feature that allows you to participate directly in preserving Boston history. Through our Digitization on Demand program you can select any artifact from our catalog of over 50,000 items, and help save a piece of local history by sponsoring its preservation.

It's easy. While searching our catalog, if you come across an items that you're excited to see digitized and preserved, all you have to do is request it. We'll contact you about the costs of digitization, and soon the video will be streaming on our site for free public access.

Why do we want your help? We know our users are excited about getting access to this content. When we first launched back in 2012, we got over 1,000 votes for items users wanted digitized. We want to continue to give you the opportunity to choose what's available. Our collections don't just cover politics and events, they contain a wealth of history about your neighborhoods, your communities, possibly even your friends and family, and who knows, maybe even you. Because it's YOUR history, YOU should be the ones who choose what endures.

Why do we need your help? The bulk of this collection exists on 16mm film or 3/4" videotape, formats which are now at risk of deterioration. If these items are allowed to deteriorate before we can preserve them, the sights and sounds they contain will be lost forever. We have been able to preserve over 1,000 items so far, but we don't want to stop there. To ensure that even more of the Boston TV News collections will survive and be made available, we need your help. We also want to acknowledge your contribution, so with your permission, we'll add a sponsorship note to the item.

If you think the cost of archival preservation might be more than you can afford, don't let that stop you from showing your interest in an item. If we get more than one request for an item, we'll contact all the interested parties and ask if they want to share the costs. You can also track items you want to see digitized, and we'll let you know if someone else sponsors them.