TMP & Marian Classes of 1971 Digitization Project

Class of ’71,

We are continuing to get donations for the newspaper and yearbook digitization project.

We have almost half of the required funding with just a small percentage of classmates responding. Those who have contributed to the project to date are:

Gerard 1971 & Deborah 1973 (Graf) Bieker	Wichita, KS
Kenneth 1971 R. & Sheri Billinger	Carrollton, GA
David (Dave) 1971 & Joan 1971 (Giebler) Dunn	Hays, KS
Kendall (Ken) 1971 M. Klaus	Wichita, KS
Kendall (Ken) 1971 M. Klaus	Wichita, KS
Chris & Bess 1971 (Lippert) McCarty	Victoria, KS
Jim & Chris 1971 (Rohleder) McNiece	Wichita, KS
Diane 1971 Pfeifer	Kansas City, MO
Brad Catt & RaNell 1971 Ruder	Salina, KS
William 1971 J. & Paula Robben	Pampa, TX
Rose Ann 1971 Rohleder	Wichita, KS
Douglas (Doug) 1971 R. & Brenda Roth	Wichita, KS
Karma 1971 Ruder	Ellensburg, WA
Lawrence (Larry) 1971 & Annette 1969 (Schmidt) Schaffer	Hays, KS
Allen 1971 C. & Ellen Schmidt	Hays, KS
Erma 1971 Schmidt	Lenexa, KS
Ronald 1971 A. & Susan Speier	Lenexa, KS
Lucy 1971 (Dome) Straily	Manhattan, KS

We would like to update you on the activities relating to class projects we discussed supporting at the 40^th reunion. This included a digitization of material in the TMP-Marian library archives and a handicap lift chair.

First, the lift chair had various options that were investigated and cost estimates obtained. These ranged from approximately $9,000 for a “portable wheelchair trac-lift” to over $47,000 for a stair lift to be installed in the stair well next to the cafeteria. Meetings were held with TMP administrators and committee members, and it was recommended we not proceed. As you may have heard, TMP-Marian has completed the elevator project, and we would like to thank those in our class who chose to support this alternative.

Dave Dunn has spent a lot of hours researching the options for the digitalization project. The cost for having it done on site looks prohibitive, so we are leaning towards the option of sending the material to the vendor for scanning, digitization, and cataloging. Below is an overview of the project.

Project: Library Archive Digitization

Description: The library has approximately 5,674 pages of fragile newspapers and 26 pages of a scrapbook they would like digitized. The items range in size up to 14″ x 21″ in page size. The papers and scrapbook will be disbound to single sheets and captured at 300 ppi, 8 bit grayscale. The archival TIFF images will be named using a title, year, month, day and sequential page counter or book ID plus sequential counter The TIFFs will be used to create searchable pdf files.

These newspapers go back to the 1930’s up to the present. These pages would be created to be searchable pdf files so anyone could search for – say their name – and all instances of that search will show up. At least that is how we perceive it to work. These pages will be stored on the Internet, making it available for anyone to view and search at any time.

The estimated cost for the approximately 5700 pages is $4962. This is only a start to the items needing digitization, but gives the school a head start and other classes can carry on with future projects.

The committee would like your thoughts on this project. If you have additional questions, let us know. We will move forward if the class would like to fund this endeavor.

So I am sending out this reminder to you so that we can surpass our goal and get this project finalized. Please send donations to TMP-Marian Alumni office, and make sure you note on the check or in a letter that your donation is for the Class of 1971 Library Digitization Project. Or, make your secure, tax-deductible contribution with your credit card right now via Paypal!

If we pull this all together as a class, it won’t be very hard at all to gather the amount we will need to digitize not only the yearbooks and newspaper, but also any other historical texts that our funding can afford.

The Class of 1971 was a great class then and we still are. Let’s do this! You may have noticed in the December 2014 Monogram that our class has the most donors to the St. Thomas More Society of all the classes. We are making an impact on future generations of Catholic leaders. Let’s finish this project as well!

Class of 1971 Digitization Project Committee: Dave Dunn, Joan Dunn, Allen Schmidt, Ken Billinger, and anyone who wants to help.

Dave Dunn
1304 Schwaller Ave, Hays, KS 67601
785-650-4816 (cell) | 785-628-1795 (home)
micromedia@ruraltel.net

From Advancement Director Jeff Brull ’94:

These are the formative years — the years spent developing lifelong friendships, suffering though common hardships, celebrating common joys. Thomas More Prep-Marian remains, as it has for more than 100 years, a special place; a place wherein we share a history. There is an annual window into this phenomenon each year as we celebrate homecoming, and alumni from around the world return in body and spirit to a place and a family that is at the root of the people they have become. At this magical time of year, we remember those wonderful memories, share stories and even embellish just a bit, perhaps. How wonderful would it be to recapture just a bit of that feeling any time you’d like? TMP-Marian houses a 100+ year history of newspapers, yearbooks, and photographs, many of which are one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable. It is time to preserve those memories in a digital format that all can share before they and the alumni they honor fade into history.

As if that weren’t argument enough, we still have much work to do at TMP-Marian and thousands more lives to impact. With each passing year it becomes more imperative that today’s and tomorrow’s young people get to experience that which you experienced — giving them the same opportunities you received. “How does digitizing the newspapers, yearbooks and photos accomplish this?” you may ask. When we reopen that window to the past for all those whose feet walked the halls of Hays Catholic College, Girls Catholic High, St. Joe’s Military Academy, St. Joe’s College, St. Francis Seminary, Marian High, TMP, and TMP-Marian, we extend an invitation to support the continuation of all the good things that still carry on from the rich history of our storied past. In short, the class of ’71 has been handed an opportunity to positively impact giving at TMP-Marian by rekindling those special moments in the minds of our alumni, honoring those who are no longer with us, and providing for those who have yet to walk through our doors.

I cannot emphasize enough, the potential a project like this could have on future giving to our school and our Endowment Foundation by helping us all appreciate how different, and how similar we all are.