Dear Ross, Thanks, Ross, for your additions. I do that too. Also the friend I spoke of has a great collection of scrap books containing marriage annnouncements, obituaries etc. which date from the turn of the century. She has them all photocopied. This is great since the copies can be used for research projects and save wear and tear on originals. Right now I am scanning some old school records. You can clear them up some and then do transcriptions. Some of these old materials are so fragile that as little that minimal handling is indicated. Gail > To save the information copy it. I always photocopy all of my newspaper clippings. As soon as you can get the best photocopy that you can on archival bond buffered paper. You can also scan it into a computer and save the electronic version, which one day you may be able to afford to enhance with computer techniques