> if we do surely we'll make a killing selling high def access to them.

In my experience of Commonwealth ( Australia | UK | Canada ) public record conservation this never happens - nobody pitches profit via flogging access although that can arise as a useful side revenue.

The focus tends to be on record preservation, digital version of documents (for example) allow rapid indexed access and extends the lifetime of the original considerably.

The silos of the British library (for example) make the closing scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark look small in comparison.

No, it's the same way here in the US. Archivists are important to government work and take their stewardship roles seriously. It's one of the more professionally principled groups I've worked with.

The project included setting up a paywall to access the pictures, profit seems like it had to be a stated goal at some point, or at least a recouping of costs.

Would be like saying that spending money in preserving corrosion on the original standard meter is a waste because now we can buy cheap plastic rules everywhere.

This pictures are like a patent to decide what is from who, so an essential administrative tool. They were useful for marketing, economical, educative and legal purposes. The economical value behind some of this fruit varieties in particular is incalculable and having official standardized pictures of its diseases for early detection saved billions probably

>Would be like saying that spending money in preserving corrosion on the original standard meter is a waste because now we can buy cheap plastic rules everywhere.

No, it's like saying it's a waste to create a replica of the original standard meter because it is no longer used to determine the length of a meter.

These paintings were likely useful, their continued use is less clear.

The scanning was funded through a grant from Ceres Trust, iirc.