Preservation Services
Preservation services are available to institutions and nonprofit organizations only. We’re unable to take on personal photos, family papers, or individual books.
Located near Asheville, NC, Troubador Press is a boutique laboratory specializing in the technical rescue of at-risk history. Unlike high-volume commercial scanning warehouses, we prioritize true-to-source fidelity, archival standards, and preservation-first handling for rare, fragile, or culturally significant collections.
Our Core Services
Preservation-Grade Imaging
We provide museum-quality, FADGI-compliant scans using the Bookeye 5 V2. We handle the technical capture and file organization so your staff can focus on scholarship and cataloging.
Small-Scale Digitization: We accept limited, clearly scoped projects for legacy paper records and mixed-format collections requiring thoughtful organization.
Deliverables: All projects include high-resolution TIFF masters, a searchable PDF access copy, and delivery on a USB drive.
Pricing
Pricing is set per project: around $1.00 per page for standard archival material and $2.00–$3.00 per page for complex or fragile material.
Project minimum: $150
Budget shouldn’t stand in the way of saving a collection, so we’re open to working within any budget, including at no charge for at-risk materials. Tell us about your collection and we’ll find a way to make it work.
Pickup & Delivery
Western North Carolina: Free personal pickup and return. Your materials never leave our hands.
Elsewhere in the U.S.: We’ll send a prepaid, padded shipping kit with tracking and insurance. Return shipping is fully insured. (Shipping costs quoted with your project.)
Note: We do not offer high-volume, per-box document conversion.
Legacy Digital Media Archiving
We extract and rescue critical data from obsolete digital formats before they degrade permanently.
Supported Media: Floppy disks, legacy data tapes, and early optical/magnetic media.
Safe data recovery, file verification, and migration to modern, secure storage formats.
Our Technical Standards
FADGI 3-Star Compliance: Meets federal guidelines for archival digitization.
Zero-Stress Handling: We use overhead planetary imaging systems with adjustable V-cradles. Brittle paper and fragile bindings are never subjected to mechanical rollers or physical pressure.
No AI Upscaling: We strictly avoid algorithmic “enhancements.” Every file is captured from high-resolution CCD raw scans to ensure authentic historical preservation.