Here are five simple tips to preserve and preserve these old records and ensure your family legacy lives on: However, it`s not just about the records. Store your documents in a controlled environment. Make sure the location: – Dark – Not sensitive to major fluctuations in temperature and humidity – Accessible in case of home emergency – Never store documents in the basement, attic or in an uninsulated garage (to avoid water damage and temperature fluctuations) A small investment in preserving valuable family records will help preserve them for future generations. One of the biggest enemies of paper is acid. It makes the paper weak and brittle and can lead to discoloration, wear and irreversible damage. Other factors that affect the lifespan of paper materials include the manufacturing process, paper components, and inks applied to the paper. It is important to create a secure environment for your paper documents to prevent these elements from destroying them. To protect and preserve your family and historical records, you can take steps to ensure their security and longevity, including securing these valuable records in an archivist-quality certificate or diploma framework. Today, we have all become accustomed to accessing information on the Internet, including centuries-old family records. But what does it take to get a fragile 300-year-old document or a historical journal page at your fingertips via your computer or smartphone? Cost may be the biggest challenge for the climate control approach. Appliances like thermostats and humidifiers aren`t cheap, let alone the fuel and energy needed to power them. If this approach stays within your budget, it will help your archives last longer.
If not, read on to find other ways to save your family history. How many old historical documents do you have in your home? Whether it`s birth certificates from former family members, important documents that record your family`s history, or historical records passed down from generation to generation, it`s important to know how to protect old paper documents from damage. That doesn`t mean you have to give up on preserving your family history. Knowing how to preserve old photos, documents, and letters is a science, and our experts at EverPresent have rounded up the top 5 ways to preserve the ancient images and texts that tell your story. When you`re ready to work with old family records for your genealogy, carefully remove items from the enclosure for scanning or photographing. Work with the digital image to transcribe and extract genealogical information to minimize manipulation of your original inheritance. Record keeping or retention is the meticulous task of saving old, thin documents from destruction. Without this key step in the scanning process, the family documents you view online would be difficult to read or, worse, would not lend themselves to scanning at all. Most of the first photographs, letters and civil status documents are printed on paper.
There are a few exceptions – like cave paintings or stone tablets – but these won`t do much for your own family tree. Recently, someone wrote to Mary Oey, a conservator at the Library of Congress, asking for help archiving her father`s personal papers. He was a Holocaust survivor, and he had used his diaries and papers as primary sources to teach his experiences to schoolchildren. He had laminated them to keep them safe, and – Mrs. Oey sighed sadly as she told this story – plasticized is a terrible way to preserve documents. There was no way to save the story of this patron. And that`s where you come in. Before you start researching your family history, now is the best time to organize your family collection.
Many old portraits and letters have dates, names, and places written. You can use these tips to sort and label groups of artifacts. These treatments can extend the shelf life of your history by several years, but this is only a short-term solution. To preserve your legacy for as long as possible, consider digitizing your collection and keeping the originals in archival containers. Before your ancestors` records end up on Findmypast, they must first be identified and authorized. Our licensing team is looking for well-known records collections that are perfect for building family trees. In addition, special efforts are made to secure documents that bring your family`s amazing story to life like never before, documents that give you details, context, and colors that you can`t get anywhere else. The second step is to store these files as securely as the original documents. While your digital photos aren`t soaked by a burst pipe, it`s just as important to keep them in well-maintained environments.
Paper-based record-keeping is a time-consuming and costly process. At Findmypast, we are proud to be part of this process. For us, it`s about preserving the history, the history of your family, page by page. It is very important to use archival attachments for all important documents. The following resources provide more detailed information on storage and presentation documents that can be used safely and provide good guidelines for the care and handling of your paper documents. It`s easy to forget those precious documents scattered around your home. Photo albums gather dust, birth certificates and folders are packed in boxes. They can all be lost if they are not properly stored and preserved. Audio and video archiving is often overlooked by family archivists because it is more technical than common sense, but it is no less important. It is easy to forget that these historical records were not really created for genealogists or historians and therefore not all documents produced are considered worthy of preservation for future generations. In fact, the archives themselves don`t even store everything, they decide what is worth preserving and what is not. You can find many scanning services online, but not all of them deal with non-standard formats like vintage documents every day.
Find a scanner that offers friendly service you can count on. Make sure they actually answer the phone so you can answer questions about really special and delicate items. Read on to learn more about the importance of document retention and our top tips for keeping old documents at home. Of course, the accident could not have been avoided. But the damage to his beloved drives could have been mitigated if he had been a little more strategic with his storage strategy. A breathable archive box instead of a plastic container could have kept water out, and keeping that box in the closet, where there are no exposed pipes and little moisture, could have saved those precious family heirlooms. But often, people don`t think about their family papers and memories until it`s too late. It can also mean scanning the white edges on old photo prints to get data or handwriting, or cutting them out to simply keep the photo.
You can also copy this handwriting into the file names or metadata of your digital files. The best thing you can do to preserve paper documents is to protect documents from harmful environmental influences such as constant exposure to extreme light, heat and humidity and direct handling of objects. Light damage is cumulative and irreversible and can lead not only to discoloration of inks, but also to yellowing, bleaching or darkening of paper. When handling, prepare a clean, dry, draft-free room and keep your hands clean and dry (remember not to use hand cream after washing your hands!). Turn pages carefully if something resists turning pages, don`t force it or fold it back into yourself. Cover materials or store them to protect them from light when not in use. Keep original packaging materials or envelopes, as they can help with identification. Do not write or use tape or glue on documents. We do not recommend the use of preventative chemical treatments by the general public – rather, we recommend proper storage in appropriate enclosures, in a good environment at < 70°F and at a set point between 35 and 50% relative humidity (RH), for long-term preservation (you can get low-cost RH monitors at almost any hardware store or home store). A stable storage environment has been shown to be better than one that cycles frequently, so the innermost part of a home that is away from exterior walls and direct sources of light or moisture is best suited for long-term storage of an item.