What do you do with newspaper clippings that you discover in your attic, or your parent’s wedding album? How do you store old photographs to keep them from deteriorating? While it is impossible to make anything last forever, there are definitely steps you can take to improve the chances of your genealogy treasures lasting a few more generations.
Our three golden rules for preserving records:
Store the originals in an organized, notated, and protected way
Create digital copies than can be easily accessed and backed up safely
Share with others and distribute copies
This process works for both individual records as well as your entirety of genealogical research. Make sure all your research notes and family trees are digitally backed up, shared with family members or local historical societies, and your original work is safely stored.
What to preserve (or record):
Original, one of a kind records like birth certificates or marriage certificates
Personal, impossible to replace items like handwritten journals, scrapbooks, family recipes
Photographs
Other media: video or voice recorded interviews, family videos
Your research
Hand-crafted items like quilts or artwork
Jewelry, badges, pins, awards
Items of sentimental value
Store the originals in an organized, notated, and protected way
Be very careful when handling old, unique documents. Touch them as little as possible - if you can, make a copy so you can store the original and refer to the copy during your research. When you do have to handle the originals, wash and dry your hands before to remove oils or wear gloves, and do not eat, drink, or smoke while near them.
Keep the originals in a safe environment, not too hot like an attic or too damp like a basement. Take papers out of envelopes, and store everything unfolded and as flat as possible. Avoid using tape, staples, paper clips, glue, or rubber bands. Never laminate. Use acid-free sheet protectors for documents, and acid-free photo albums or boxes.
If you have documents or photos you would like framed, use a frame with UV-filtering glass and avoid placing it in direct sunlight or fluorescent lights - or better yet, frame a copy and keep the original safely stored away.
As you place each item away to store, come up with an organization system. Many genealogists divide their research into groups by surname or family lines. Think about how you will store things electronically when you digitize, and try to keep a similar or related system for your physical storage.
Label the documents and photos as much as possible (never writing on the items or sticking anything directly to them) with names and dates, so if anyone was to find the box or album later they would be able to correctly identify everything within. Label the cover or lid as well with a title and description. Then keep an index, physically or electronically, so you are able to track what you have stored and where you are storing it.
It’s important to document and itemize everything related to your ancestors, especially if you plan to give it to a relative or historical society or it’s in someone else’s possession. For example, let’s say during an interview your Uncle shows you your grandfather’s high school ring. Take detailed photographs that show the name of the high school, the years, the symbols, and the inscription. Store these photographs with your notes about how you learned about the ring, and it’s location now. Later when you are doing your genealogy research on your grandfather, you’ll just check your index to see what sources you already have and may be surprised to remember this valuable artifact.
Create digital copies than can be easily accessed and backed up safely
Transferring documents and media to digital can seem like a big task, but it must be done to preserve the files for future generations. To do this you need a process to scan your items, and a place to store them.
We highly recommend investing in a document / photo scanner. A handheld portable version can be very valuable when visiting relatives houses and copying their photos - people are much more likely to let you scan photos while right in front of them rather than taking them home with you and risk loosing them - but a large flatbed scanner can be beneficial when scanning scrapbooks or bound books.
You can also buy hardware that allows you to do things like transfer old family movies on VHS tapes to digital format, but for the more difficult things like this we suggest taking them to a retailer or professional. If you can, take them to a nearby store rather then using a mail-in service. Just be aware of the risks of them loosing or damaging your items.
When you scan your photos, scan at the highest resolution allowed. Do not add filters or edit. Use descriptions (or identifying labels appropriate to your organization system) in your file names.
You have the options of storing your digital media on your computer, or on an external portable hard drive, or through an online storage site. At best, choose all three options so you have backups.
Choose an online storage website suitable to your needs and budget. You may need one site for photos and a different one for documents, depending on the file types. Be aware some sites, especially free versions, may downgrade your photos to a lower resolution to save space unless you upgrade. A few recommendations include: Google Photos, OneDrive, Flickr, and SmugMug.
Continually update your materials to the latest format. If you still have items on CD’s or DVD’s, it’s time to update them to digital as well, as most computers and laptops these days no longer have CD drives.
We also recommend giving one other person you trust access to your storage site, or keep a copy of the password with your valuable paperwork. You don’t want all of your hard-work to disappear if something happens to you - leave a legacy plan for your genealogy research and all of it’s related media.
Share with others and distribute copies
The best way to keep your research and photographs “alive” is to share them with the world. Self-publish your research, or simply give copies of your photos to your relatives. Share your work and media on genealogy sites, on blogs, or within Facebook groups. Apply to lineage membership societies so your records are preserved in their files. Share with local libraries, historical societies, and genealogy groups. Some museums may even be interested in your collections. Also consider giving items of interest, or copies, to the places where the events occurred, such as donating old class photos to a high school.