The Harold French Project

This page will update you on the progress and the contents of the Harold French Project.

Harold C. French was born in 1909 in Twin Falls, Idaho. He grew up in Alberta, Canada and made a name for himself in the Alberta provincial government. He was the originator of the legislation that became the Alberta Human Rights Bill, a model of civil rights legislation for other provinces and states in subsequent years. He was the author of what became the Alberta Civil Servants' Health Plan. He traveled extensively in Asia and the Pacific as a private citizen, both before and after his retirement.

The Harold French Project is a digital compilation of Harold C. French's papers, photographs and movies. It will be published on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. The project's expected start date is Summer 2002, and expected completion date is 2005.

Current Status

Harold French's memoirs have been published. Copies may be ordered from Legacy Publications, 1414 Allison Drive, Loveland Colorado 80538, phone 970.667.9647. We hope to obtain electronic publication rights for this book.
Over 1000 color slides are on a top shelf in the bookshelves in my basement.
1000 feet of 8mm and Super 8 movie film are on the same top shelf. This is the most fragile item, and it will need to be digitized as early as possible.
Around 400 old 3" x 4" negatives are stored in shoeboxes inside a larger moving box in a corner of my dining room.
Several boxes of notes, certificates, old newspapers, tax returns and black-and-white prints are inside large cardboard moving boxes in a corner of my dining room.
What's left of Harold's library is in the bookshelves in my basement.

What's Next

We are in the process of moving the office upstairs. When the office move is complete, the contents of the Harold French Project will be moved into the office from their various locations around the house. Right now the pieces are in the safest places they can be, without getting in the way.

I am most concerned about the movies. I have examined a few of them, and they look like they are still in good shape, but they could go brittle or discolor overnight. I have checked out several video transfer firms locally and on the Web. I will utilize a firm that can transfer the movies to a digital video master, such as DV8. I expect that the video transfer will cost between US$400.00 and US$1000.00.

My second concern is with the slides and the negatives. I have purchased a film scanner from a professional photographer for US$2000.00. The photographer used this film scanner in his digital darkroom, and he and I are of the opinion that it will work nicely for the slides and the negatives. I hope to hire my children to scan in the pictures as a summer job.

I hope to obtain electronic publication rights to Harold C. French Memoirs. Since I own the copyright on the book, this shouldn't be a big deal. However, Legacy Publications has it all in electronic form, and I'd rather use their material than recreate it myself. I'd be willing to buy their files from them.

In the long term, I want to scan in all the other materials in the boxes.

Distribution

I will send copies of the completed Project to all of Harold French's living descendants, including his niece, Denise Simmons, and her family. I will also send copies to the historical library in Lethbridge, the Alberta Historical Society, the provincial library in Edmonton. I may also send copies to the Library of Congress in Washington, its counterpart in Ottawa and the Family History Center in Salt Lake City. I will make additional copies available for a fee to cover the costs of copying.

Created by Ray Depew, 09 February 2002
Last edited by Ray Depew, 01 August 2007