What to do with original docs & pics
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My mom is sitting on a ton of original family birth, death, marriage records, cemetery deeds, etc., 1800's pictures. She's been busy scanning them, I'm entering them even more slowly in PGV. A couple family bibles too.
What do the rest of you with similar materials do to preserve the originals? To date mom has been putting them in the plastic sleeves that are available at Office Depot and the like and putting the stuff in notebooks. Then she heard recently from a friend that isn't a good idea but had no other option to offer.
Thanks!
Lou
I would suggest donating the kit and kaboodle to the special collections room of a local library, college, or history center. That way anyone who has an interest can enjoy perusing the materials. You might ask her if she'd be okay with doing that as part of her legacy plan. In the interim, if you keep it all in a cool, dry location, sealed in a plastic tub with desiccant, it should be fine.
Wish I had that problem! :-)
Unless it's for a VERY short time, ensure that anything you store it in is acid free, and will not stick to the material.
Of course, it's very likely that the originals are not acid-free, and therefore it might be worthwhile to print the scanned version on archival quality paper.
If you donate it to an institution, choose one that already has other historical archives, so you can have some confidence it will be properly cared for, not tossed in a box in a basement to rot.
Finally, if you donate it, ask them how soon they think it will be catalogued and that they provide you the information (you may want to put call numbers in your SOUR records).