Tip of the Month

Document Preservation

The proper preservation of documents that make up a family history collection is often neglected.  These papers could be printouts from your computer, newspaper clippings, birth/death/marriage certificates, old report cards, mom's love letters, and so forth.  A little bit of care is all that is needed and you'll greatly increase a document's longevity.  After all, we want them to last so our descendants can enjoy them.  Its not hard either, here are some tips:

1. Acidity: Most paper contains acid, which over time will cause the paper to weaken and become brittle.   Newsprint has an especially high acid content, which is why your old obits, birth announcements and such become brittle quite quickly.  All is not lost though, for documents that are on acid-bearing paper, spray them with a de-acidification spray, such as Archival Mist. This link to the US Library of Congress website provides more information about Archival Mist.

2. Storage: After you've made your documents and clippings acid free, store them in acid-free and lignin-free scrapbook albums, archival boxes, or page protectors.  Make sure the papers, especially newspaper clippings, are stored flat and not folded.

3. Printing: Print out your computer data on acid free paper.  There are many suppliers of this (Great White, for example) and you can buy it at an office supply store.  But don't let the paper come into contact with other acid bearing paper/materials because it will contaminate the paper.  Most printer inks are acid-free, but they are not waterfast.  So put your print-outs in archival page protectors to protect them from accidental spills and to minimize any handling damage.

4. Archiving: Have your documents scanned and digitally archived by a professional archiving and restoration service like FotoMend.