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Scanning Microfilm to PDF
On 31-Mar-2025 I visited the Joseph Regenstein Library in Chicago to scan two PhD dissertations. I had kept these two PhD thesis since 1990. In 1990 I could only read these two thesis on a microfilm reader. At that time there was no PDF.
The Regenstein library of the University of Chicago offers the possibility for the public to scan microfilms. See Using the Microform Scanners.
The entrance of the Regenstein library.
The Regenstein library is next to the futuristic Mansueto library.
This is all part of the University of Chicago campus.
The scanning cubicle: you can see the two rolls with the microfilm in below photo while scanning.
Unfortunately, each page had to be scanned individually and saved as a separate file. So it took me a couple of hours to scan the two microfilms. Each page is essentially just an image stored as PDF.
The actual command to concatenate all those files from Tendler's dissertation:
$ time pdfunite Tendler01aL*.pdf Tendler01b*.pdf TendlerDiss1973.pdf
real 2.99s
user 2.77s
sys 0
swapped 0
total space 0
Rubin's dissertation:
$ time pdfunite Rubin02a* Rubin02b*.pdf RubinDiss1973.pdf
real 3.10s
user 2.87s
sys 0
swapped 0
total space 0
The results are here: