Scanning your photographs, newspaper articles, letters, and other family heirlooms are a great way to share these with all your family and friends and is wonderful for printing out copies for display or creating bound books of digital prints. While scanning is a wonderful tool, it does not replace the original artifact and is not a great format for long-term preservation for future generations. Digital files breakdown (bit rot), hard drives fail, and digital storage companies go out of business. Keeping the originals, or paper copies of newspapers, can be the best way to preserve these precious artifacts for many generations.
There is so much written about family archiving out there – some good, and some not so good advice. Our archivist has pulled together a trove of trusted and vetted resources for organizing, preserving, labelling, and storing your family treasures after they have been scanned. Links below.
Have a specific question or need help getting started? Or are you ready to move on to more advanced stage of your project? Email us at Library.SpecColl@fultoncountyga.gov and we are always happy to help at any stage of your project!
Curating, organizing, labelling, and storing:
Organizing and storing your family archives can be overwhelming! These are our favorite resources that break each step down into smaller steps that may help you prioritize the most important things you can do with limited time and resources.
- National Museum of African American History and Culture publishes information for the public interested in learning how to take care of their personal collections. This blog post breaks down the basics of preservation and then links to their Toolkit for individuals and families at the end. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/tips-preserving-your-family-treasures
link directly to the Toolkit: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/initiatives/african-american-treasures/individual-toolkit
- Northeast Document Conservation Center’s free resources on caring for your family collections. Experts in the field, NEDCC gives us the most up-to-date processes for preserving and using our family collections. https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preserving-private-and-family-collections/caring-for-private-and-family-collections
- KQED spoke to experts on how to best preserve documents, digitize records and how best to connect with organizations who may be interested in your archives. This article provides great information and links to think about what you want to accomplish with your family archives. https://www.kqed.org/news/12039595/how-to-archive-family-photos-history-preserve-old-documents
- FamilySearch page with simple preservation steps organized by material type, including digital preservation. https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/simple-steps-to-preserve-your-precious-family-memories
- New York State Archives Family History page helps you ask the hard questions about what to save, what matters most, and what we can reasonably take care of. They include great additional resources and a page on donating your materials when there is more than you want to keep with you. https://www.archives.nysed.gov/preservation/family-records-what-to-save
- The Smithsonian archives staff shares their advice on preserving your family’s history here. https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/six-tips-preserving-family-archives
- Archival Methods gets you to think about time, budget, and space, and shows great examples of different archival storage options from boxes to binders. https://www.archivalmethods.com/blog/how-to-begin-to-preserve-your-family-archive/?srsltid=AfmBOorYdqSajbMJ5oScQSVoDxtHVNnpMTQL2s1wO0w8iZopGo9zjo4-
Handling and cleaning your family heirlooms:
Do you have art, ceramics, textiles, baskets, or other objects that are family heirlooms? These resources will help show you the best way to clean, display, and store your items so you can enjoy them for decades to come.
- Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts – Family Treasures Guide: https://ccaha.org/resources/caring-family-treasures
- Library of Congress – Preservation pages -- https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/
Digitization and Reproductions of Audiovisual and Photographic Media:
VHS and film reels can get heavy fast! Here are a handful of trusted companies right here in the Atlanta Metro Area that digitize home movies, photos, slides, and audio cassettes. There are many more companies out there and likely a few close to you.
- Memory Fortress -- https://memoryfortress.com/
- Nostalgic Media -- https://nostalgicmedia.com/
- Video Innovation -- https://www.videoinnovation.net/
- Video Impact Atlanta -- https://videoimpactatlanta.com/
- Current Pixel -- https://currentpixel.com/
Resources by Material Type:
Here are our favorite resources to help identify different material types and their specific preservation and storage needs.
- Photographs
- National Archives -- https://www.archives.gov/preservation/holdings-maintenance/photographs
- Michiganology -- https://michiganology.org/stories/caring-for-your-photograph-collection-how-should-i-preserve-photographs/
- Library of Congress -- https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/photo.html
- Gaylord -- https://info.gaylord.com/resources/organizing-family-photos
- Gawain Weaver (photo conservator and teacher) -- https://gawainweaver.com/library/
- Newspapers
- Library of Congress -- https://guides.loc.gov/preserving_newspaper/storing
- Smithsonian Institution Archives -- https://siarchives.si.edu/what-we-do/forums/collections-care-guidelines-resources/how-do-i-preserve-my-newspaper
- Duke University -- “Tips for Preserving Election Memorabilia” video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqkEY8ITUBw&feature=player_embedded
- Gaylord -- https://info.gaylord.com/resources/how-to-preserve-store-newspapers
- University Products -- https://www.universityproducts.com/collectors-storage/newspapers
- Scrapbooks
- Library of Congress -- https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/albums.html
- University of Syracuse -- https://library.syracuse.edu/blog/Preserving-Your-Heritage-How-to-Care-for-the-Family-Album/
- Audiovisual (home movies, vinyl records, cassette tapes)
- Community Archiving blog -- https://communityarchiving.org/goto/
- Library of Congress -- https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/record.html
- University of Utah -- https://campusguides.lib.utah.edu/c.php?g=160824&p=1050093
Where to buy archival supplies:
One of the most damaging things to our family archives can be the material they are stored in. Many carboard boxes or plastic containers are acidic and/or can have harmful off-gassing that can speed up degradation. Using archival material that is specially formulated for the long-term storage of photos, newspapers, media, and documents is a simple way to ensure these collections are around for the next generations. Here are a few businesses that specialize in archival storage supplies that we use in the field and at home for our own family collections.
These special folders and boxes can be quite expensive! Many of the links above have DIY options or other things you can do to slow down degradation, like keeping material out of direct light, attics, basements, and garages. You may decide to keep just the most precious and important, or most fragile material in archival folders and boxes.
- University Products -- https://www.universityproducts.com/
- Gaylord Archival – https://gaylord.com
- Hollinger Metal Edge -- https://www.hollingermetaledge.com
- Archival Methods -- https://www.archivalmethods.com/category/kits-accessories
Donating Your Collection to a Repository:
Your family history may be an important part of your community! Archives and historical societies often collect local history collections where they will be preserved and accessible for many generations to come. Was your great grandpa a pastor? Were your parents business owners and members of a local club? Did your uncle create scrapbooks about the local sports team? Reach out to us!
- Society of American Archivists – Brochure “Donating Family Records” https://www2.archivists.org/publications/brochures/donating-familyrecs
- Society of American Archivists – Book “Creating Family Archives” https://www2.archivists.org/publications/creating-family-archives
Learn More! Free Educational Resources
There are a great number of organizations that are dedicated to education and create wonderful webinars, instructions, and free courses related to community archiving and preservation. Here are a few that are high quality with a wide range of topics.
- Library of Congress -- Preservation Week -- https://www.loc.gov/preservation/outreach/presweek/index_presweek.html
- Connecting to Collections Care – https://connectingtocollections.org/
- Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) – https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/overview
- Conserv-O-Grams – National Park Service – https://www.nps.gov/subjects/museums/conserve-o-grams.htm
- PSAP - Material Identification guide – https://psap.library.illinois.edu/collection-id-guide
- UK National Archives -- https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/
- UNESCO Memory of the World -- https://artsandculture.google.com/project/memory-of-the-world
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