Sydney Gamble was a sociologist and China scholar who took 4 trips to China between 1908-1932 and photographed extensively. His nitrate negative photographs and documentation were donated to Duke University in 2006 after being discovered in 1983. Duke outsourced the digitization of the highly flammable negatives. The metadata librarian worked to correctly identify geographic names and locations based on Gamble's irregular transliterations and updates were made based on patron feedback. The digital collection allows browsing by trip, roll number, place name or term cloud and includes research guides and Gamble's original documentation. Current projects focus on making the site bilingual and digitizing additional Gamble materials and an interactive map.

1. Sydney Gamble Photographs Duke’s digital collection on China Luo ZhouChinese Studies Librarian

2. Sydney D. GambleWho is Sydney Gamble?SociologistChina scholarAvid amateur photographerGamble’s 4 trips to China19081917-19191924-19271931-1932

3. How did this collection come to Duke?Discovery of the photographs in 1983

4. Catherine Curran (daughter)

5. nitrate negatives with typed and handwritten captions

6. Contact prints photograph albums

7. Sidney D. Gamble Foundation for China Studies in 1986

8. DUL‘s Visual Materials Archivist & faculty

9. Come to Duke in 2006Digitization of the collectionOutsourceWhy? highly-flammable nitrate negativesWho? Chicago Albumen Works in MA What?Photos & typed image labels (OCR) image captions and geographic headings

10. Geographic namesMetadata LibrarianMeFinding the place name & translating into Chinese:Gamble’s irregular way of transliterationLocal accent influenceChange of place nameChange of administrative belongingsMetadata Librarian