Students from Chestnut Hill College’s Graduate Instructional Technology Program collaborated with the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) by transferring 20,000 feet of old films from their archive to modern digital formats last semester.

“We processed about 20,000 feet of films, preserving valuable historic data for future generations of researchers and all interested in the history of the American transportation system,” said Yefim Kats, Ph.D., chair of the computer science and information technology graduate program and instructional technology coordinator.

The NRHS was so thrilled to receive the assistance, it made a $7,500 donation to the College and CHC’s contribution will receive recognition in any subsequent releases and digital file marketing. In fact, the NRHS has already received requests to use the files for educational purposes. 

The College’s graduate students were led in this project by Thomas Paul Coughlin, Ph.D., adjunct professor, department of computer science and information technology.

The HRHS is a non-profit organization founded in 1935 by a group of rail historians and it supports train, railway and station preservation projects. It originally had 40 founding members and has grown to now include more than 13,000 men and women of all ages and professions throughout the U.S. and many foreign countries, which makes it the nation’s largest rail preservation and historical society.