Partnering with Upper Hutt City Council to Digitise Legacy Cemetery Records

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The Challenge: A Diverse and Fragile Archive

Upper Hutt City Council (UHCC) faced a significant logistical and archival challenge: a collection of paper-based cemetery records discovered at both the Akatarawa Cemetery and the UHCC Civic Building.

The logistics were complex due to the varied storage methods including shelving, boxes, cabinets, metal draws, and sheer diversity of the record types. The collection was not only geographically split but existed in a wide range of formats:

· Index and Registration Cards: Approximately 9,250 single-sided A6 cards.

· Bound Historical Diaries: 45 separate diaries spanning 45 years, totalling roughly 18,000 pages.

· Exclusive Rights of Burial Books: 34 bound soft-cover books containing carbon-copy records.

· Warrants of Internment: A mix of 25 bound books and approximately 9,499 loose A4 and mixed-sized pages.

· Wide-format Cemetery Maps: Physical maps of cemetery sections requiring specialised handling.

· Fragile Historical Records: Documents featuring difficult-to-read historical handwriting often recorded in pencil.

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The Solution: A Phased, Data-First Approach

We implemented a structured, seven-batch digitisation strategy to ensure every record type received the appropriate technical treatment. Each batch was then processed through our rigorous three-step digitisation workflow:

1. Forensic Preparation & Scanning

Our team performed meticulous document repair, including removing staples, paper clips, and bindings. Fragile or thin pages were taped to blank backing sheets to ensure optimum scan quality.

· Standardised Quality: All documents were scanned in full colour at 300dpi to ensure a "true representation" compliant with the Public Records Act 2005.

· Technical Precision: We utilised duplex scanning for double-sided records and applied programmatic autodeletion of blank pages to keep file sizes efficient.

2. Intelligent Metadata & SQL Integration

To ensure true searchability, we moved beyond simple scanning. By extracting data from UHCC’s existing MagiQ database, we created a SQL lookup table to semi-automatically populate metadata fields.

· Targeted Fields: Metadata was refined per record type, capturing critical information such as Surname, First name, Plot Location, Date of Death, and Unique IDs .

· OCR Implementation: All images were OCR’d to provide uncorrected text searchability across the entire collection.

"By combining high-resolution scanning with OCR technology, we successfully transformed even the most challenging pencil-written historical entries into searchable data."

3. Quality Assurance & Reprocessed Backlogs

Quality Control (QC) occurred continuously during the process, with a final Quality Assurance (QA) check covering 100% of the digital output. Additionally, we re-processed over 1,800 existing scanned records already in UHCC’s SharePoint environment to add consistent file-naming and metadata.

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The Results: A Searchable Legacy

The project was delivered under budget and on schedule, providing UHCC with a modernised, accessible resource.

· 24,000+ Searchable Files: Transformed varied and disorganised paper records into single, multi-page PDF/A files.

· Enhanced Governance: Every file meets the standards of the Privacy Act 2020, the Contract and Commercial Law Act, and the Public Records Act 2005.

· Full Repatriation: All physical records were returned in their original order and containers, though without the reinstatement of staples or bindings to prevent further damage.

· Operational Efficiency: UHCC staff can now manage "Scan on Demand" requests via a dedicated SharePoint Collaboration Portal, with urgent requests fulfilled within a 4-hour window.

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"By breaking this challenging project into manageable parts and focusing on metadata refinement, we’ve turned a fragile physical archive into a powerful digital asset for the Upper Hutt community."

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Project at a Glance: UHCC Cemetery Records