Inside HistoryIT: Strategy, Metadata, And True Digital Preservation

What if your archive could fund your mission? We sit down with HistoryIT founder and CEO Kristen Gwinn-Becker to reveal why most organizations are far less “digital” than they think—and how a smart strategy can turn dusty boxes, dying tapes, and scattered drives into a living, searchable asset that powers storytelling, alumni engagement, and real fundraising results.

Gwinn-Becker walks us through the essentials: start with strategy, not scanners. We dig into why PDFs aren’t preservation, how master files and standards protect against obsolescence, and why metadata is the engine that makes evidence discoverable. From NFL teams to fraternities and historical societies, we explore how unified metadata lets users click a single name and surface photos, plaques, film clips, and documents in seconds. The result is access that feels magical—and measurable. Hear how one membership organization achieved a 791% jump in its day of giving by making history personal and instant.

Should you decide what’s “important” before digitizing? Gwinn-Becker explains the risks of guessing, the urgency of preserving magnetic tapes and obsolete formats before “last play,” and the real role of AI in accelerating metadata without surrendering quality control. We share practical steps to future-proof born-digital content: define owners, formats, intake checklists, and routine ingestion so the next twenty years don’t become another rescue project.