Document-level searchability? How a small library is digitising the George C. Marshall Papers

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when libraries and archives shuttered, the George C. Marshall Foundation reassessed its long-term strategy to make its historical records available to the public. As few researchers could visit the collection in person, the foundation decided to meet the public where they were: online. By the end of the year, the foundation had committed to a multi-year, multi-phase project to digitise Marshall’s papers (a collection of more than 250 archival boxes) and to make every document individually searchable — a feat that would challenge many larger repositories. This paper examines how a small library, with a limited staff, developed and launched a document-level digitisation project, and discusses the lessons learned along the way. With the first phase of the project completed in late 2024, the paper details the development of the project, how decisions, large and small, were made with little precedent or best-practice guidance and what the future holds for such a small library tackling such an ambitious project. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at http://hstalks/business.