Hello Listers! We have boxes and boxes old materials, photos primarily but also newspaper items and some other artifacts. I went to a one day workshop last spring on archival preservation and have been stalling ever since. I want to preserve what we have but don't know which route to take. I have been leaning towards buying acid free binders and hundreds of acid free plastic sleeves..... We don't have unlimited funds but yet we do think that the responsibility of preserving these things is very important. Any suggestions about what a simple but archivally safe way to catalog and store what we have? --- Bruce And Amy Noble --- moobie@earthlink.net --- EarthLink: It's your Internet.

Hi Start with ziplock bags of various sizes to fit your items to get them organized and out of the temperature and moisture extremes of the attic and basement. It's inexpensive, makes things easy to find and then you can decide which items to feature in albums with longer lasting archival materials. Sharon http://www.GenealogyFair.com --- Bruce And Amy Noble <moobie@earthlink.net> wrote: > > Hello Listers! > > > > We have boxes and boxes old materials, photos primarily but also > newspaper > items and some other artifacts. I went to a one day workshop last > spring > on archival preservation and have been stalling ever since. I want > to > preserve what we have but don't know which route to take. I have > been > leaning towards buying acid free binders and hundreds of acid free > plastic > sleeves..... > > We don't have unlimited funds but yet we do think that the > responsibility of preserving these things is very important. > > > > Any suggestions about what a simple but archivally safe way to > catalog and > store what we have? > > > > > > --- Bruce And Amy Noble > > --- moobie@earthlink.net > > --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

My mother used plastic bags and they were only slightly better than the original shoebox. Archival sheet protectors are easier to organize with items grouped by topics and wide dividers are available. I have 60 ring binders of family pictures and clippings organized like books-in-progress along with family group printouts for the main line and outline reports for descendants of ancestors. Sheet protectors allow items to be viewed without frequent handling. Unidentified items are with the pictures that belonged to the last known owner. Community pictures are with the first couple who settled in a community. Elizabeth, estimated 15,000 scans for family history > Start with ziplock bags of various sizes to fit your items to get them > organized and out of the temperature and moisture extremes of the attic > and basement. It's inexpensive, makes things easy to find and then you > can decide which items to feature in albums with longer lasting > archival materials.

You need to prioritize. First thing I would do is sort the materials: newspaper items, other artifacts and old photos. Newspaper items: In my opinion, the most fragile are the newspaper items; they deteriorate and discolor very quickly. They can be easily taken to a copy center and copied onto acid free paper. I buy my own acid free paper and take it with me. I make two copies of each item. It is very inexpensive to do. I store one copy with my other important documents and one copy goes with my genealogy records. If you have a scanner, you may want to scan the images. I get better quality scans if I scan the copy. You can then keep the old original newsprint item in separate plastic sleeves in a binder if you are so inclined, but don't let them touch anything important. Newsprint is highly acid and the acid can migrate to anything it touches. Other artifacts: The storage varies with the artifact. You should take a picture of each item for a permanent record & insurance purposes. I display anything possible. You can have small textiles framed with archival quality materials. (Right now I'm getting ready to frame a really old silk lined tatted baby bonnet. I'll have it displayed in the same frame with an old pair of hand crocheted baby booties. The bonnet is much older [1880s] than the booties [1920s], but they look very lovely together.) If you aren't going to display an item it should be stored in archival boxes in acid free paper. You can also cut up old clean sheets and use these to wrap things in. No acid in the old sheets. I use small squares of old sheets to wrap around my delicate old Christmas tree ornaments when I pack them. Since I wrap and unwrap them every year, I have found the sheet fabric to be very soft and durable. Try to store your boxes of artifacts in an area that doesn't have extreme changes in temperature and humidity. Anything made of leather deteriorates very quickly, so you need to give it special attention -- check it frequently to be sure it isn't molding or drying out. Photos: I'm sure if you will look in the archives of previous issues of this Vintage-Photo subscription, you will find a lot of different suggestions for archiving and preserving old photos. The topic has been discussed many times. And I'm sure everyone will agree that you should be sure to IDENTIFY everything. Write down any history that you know. Or it will be lost forever. Good luck, Phyllis in NJ Bruce And Amy Noble wrote: > Hello Listers! > > > > We have boxes and boxes old materials, photos primarily but also newspaper > items and some other artifacts. I went to a one day workshop last spring > on archival preservation and have been stalling ever since. I want to > preserve what we have but don't know which route to take. I have been > leaning towards buying acid free binders and hundreds of acid free plastic > sleeves..... > > We don't have unlimited funds but yet we do think that the > responsibility of preserving these things is very important. > > > > Any suggestions about what a simple but archivally safe way to catalog and > store what we have? > > > > > > --- Bruce And Amy Noble > > --- moobie@earthlink.net > > --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. > > ==== VINTAGE-PHOTOS Mailing List ==== > We have over 223 members of the Vintage-Photos Mailing List. Posting back > to the list helps the whole group, not just one person. If we work as a team, > we'll succeed as a team. > To learn more about my world visit http://dwp.bigplanet.com/kburnett > > ============================== > Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & Celebrate > your heritage! > http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog