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Family History Documents and Artefacts => FH Documents and Artefacts => Topic started by: Deer243 on Saturday 09 April 16 21:25 BST (UK)
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I'm very lucky in that the history one of my family lines has been researched by my ancestors since around 1910. First by my Great Grandfather, then by my Grandmother (who was his daughter), then by my Mother and Aunt (my Grandmother's Children) and now by me.
What this has left me with is upwards of 1000 family photos, some labelled, many not, countless letters and BMD certificates, census returns and research notebooks along with endless scraps of paper with notes written on them along with lots of other assorted items such as part of my Gt Grandfather's diary.
Most useful are 20 pages of typewritten notes detailing the lives of by Gt Grandfather's Grandparents along with about another 60 pages of memories and other family history writeups.
I'm completely overwhelmed with the information, it's all stuffed in a box and I still have't managed to go through it all and once you put something back in the box it's a nightmare trying to find it again.
I'm always paranoid that there could be a house fire and all of this could go up in flames. I've scanned some photos and a few documents but scanning everything would be a full time job. At the moment it is all left as it was: photos and documents usually stuffed in envelopes as old as the photos with all of this crammed into a box with more odds and ends piled on top.
Can anyone offer any advice as to organising and preserving all of this?
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What a great resource :)
If funds are not seriously limited I would get some archive photo/document storage from somewhere like http://www.my-history.co.uk/ to make sure things do not deteriorate. That way you can create an index as you go. At the very least some acid-free storage boxes and tissue to place between docs/photos to prevent deterioration.
Sounds like a project for the long winter evenings, sorting and indexing everything. I had a much smaller collection in a box which I managed to borrow from my mother for a while. I scanned all the documents and most of the photos. I'm still transcribing some of the documents from the scans, but the originals were returned to mum long ago.
You definitely need a 'system' for such a large collection, but I still haven't perfected my own so I hesitate to offer further advice :-\
Mike.
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I bet most of us on here wish we had such a resource :)
For a start - Make an Inventory of everything in the box.
sami
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It's quite a quick process to photograph certificates, typed documents and old photos with an ordinary digital camera.. In fact old photos can be edited and restored easier from new copies.
I do it on a table with a white cloth or sheet.I now use this method instead of a scanner.
I copied our village school records which covered almost 100 years, so that a copy could be kept before they went to county record office. They are very easy to read as you can zoom in on them.
If you get an empty box, you could start photographing them (I take two or three of each and check I am happy with image), then put them in the new box so you know which you have done. It maybe a good idea to sort them into names or families first, then that way the images will be easier to find once they are on your computer, where you can put them into individual folders.
The photo images can then be copied onto a usb flash drive or "in the cloud" somewhere. That way you would know
they are safe from fire, flood etc.
It's certainly a big job, but you are very lucky to have so much history.
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Well done on inheriting such a treasure trove. Now as you have realized, you have a mammoth task in front of you.
As others have already said, you need to make a catalogue or inventory of everything. To save time, perhaps get the acid-free sleeves and boxes mentioned by Mike, and as you catalogue things, you can sort them as well as putting them into protective sleeves etc. that will save them from any further damage/deterioration. Perhaps ring binders might be a better way of sorting things into some sort of order. How you divide things up is entirely up to you; you are the one that will be accessing the collection.
Good luck in this huge undertaking.
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Thanks everyone for such a quick lot of replies :)
I definitely like the idea of compiling a catalogue, that would certainly make just finding the stuff easier, it doesn't help much at the moment when I open an envelope labelled "grave receipts" to find it's full of BMD certificates! I'll try making a sort of index/catalogue with Excel and see how that goes as I'm sorting through it all.
Thanks for the website link Mike, that looks like a really good source of supplies.
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It's quite a quick process to photograph certificates, typed documents and old photos with an ordinary digital camera.. In fact old photos can be edited and restored easier from new copies.
I do it on a table with a white cloth or sheet.I now use this method instead of a scanner.
I copied our village school records which covered almost 100 years, so that a copy could be kept before they went to county record office. They are very easy to read as you can zoom in on them.
If you get an empty box, you could start photographing them (I take two or three of each and check I am happy with image), then put them in the new box so you know which you have done. It maybe a good idea to sort them into names or families first, then that way the images will be easier to find once they are on your computer, where you can put them into individual folders.
The photo images can then be copied onto a usb flash drive or "in the cloud" somewhere. That way you would know
they are safe from fire, flood etc.
It's certainly a big job, but you are very lucky to have so much history.
Please, Please, Please, never even think that a usb flash drive is safe to store anything.
It is not even a reliable method to transfer files as usb flash drives can be corrupted simply by inserting them or removing them from the usb port.
It is not a case they may fail is is guaranteed that ever usb flash drive will fail at some point or other.
Always ensure that you have a copy of anything put on a usb flash drive.
Cheers
Guy
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I currently have 4 paper files, 2 are for my maternal family, and two for my paternal family!
I now take documents with my iPad camera. It gives a better image than my dodgy old scanner can scan and a better photo than my digital camera.
I also copy them to CD's.
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I try to ensure I have digital copies of certificates and pohotos, where I can.
Otherwise I scan them.
I have things stored on my PC, on an external Hard-Drive, some on Ancestry (probably not a great idea?!), and on cloud storage (my email provider, GMX, has cloud storage facilities).
I also use a USB stick - but only for portability. It means I can take a copy of important stuff to the library, my local museum library, and record offices.
But I would never consider USB storage for permanent use!
My family tree spans nearly 600 years!
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I think that's the key. Ensure that all paper documents and files are stored properly, and have a variety of backup options, whether it be cloud storage, external hard drive or other media such as CD-ROM.
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Have you considered storing everything in a fire safe (or safes). They are not as expensive now as they used to be.
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Please, Please, Please, never even think that a usb flash drive is safe to store anything.
It is not even a reliable method to transfer files as usb flash drives can be corrupted simply by inserting them or removing them from the usb port.
It is not a case they may fail is is guaranteed that ever usb flash drive will fail at some point or other.
Always ensure that you have a copy of anything put on a usb flash drive.
Cheers
Guy
What would be a more reliable method of electronic storage other than USB? Admittedly USB is what I am usually backed up to at the moment (I never realised it was that unreliable before).
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Have you considered storing everything in a fire safe (or safes). They are not as expensive now as they used to be.
That is something I was looking into last night as well, a lot of the fire proof chests and safes seem to be fairly small and only designed for A4 documents though.
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What would be a more reliable method of electronic storage other than USB?
I think the secret is to use several different methods: DVD, Cloud, External Hard Drive, etc. on the assumption that it would be seriously bad luck if they were all to fail at the same time . . . unless of course they were all in the same house, along with the paper copies, when it burnt down, at which point they might be the least of your worries >:( Of course, once everything was back to normal you would find the cloud storage company had gone out of business and all your data was gone forever . . . :'(
In my experience USB Flash Drives can be reliable for long periods, but they usually fail when they hold your one and only copy of something valuable!
Mike.
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100 years of Research
some thoughts....
Catalogue, scan, photograph, back up, fireproof safes, metal trunks within metal trunks, waterproof, attend a workshop, record oral histories, store back ups in different location to originals, have second back ups stored in a third location and in a different format to back up no. 1, contact Museums/Archives/Records Offices and ask for their opinions/advice/ re storage/cataloguing practices,
ask a Conservator, .... see these live links http://www.preservationaustralia.com.au/ask_conservator
and
https://aiccm.org.au/
https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/preservation-work/conservation-tips and
large documents:
http://archivesoutside.records.nsw.gov.au/conservation-tip-no-2-storing-large-documents-maps-and-plans/
Cheers, JM
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If you are willing to invest some money:
A decent multifunction printer/scanner for around £50 (I use a Canon pixma which works well for me, but any reputable make will do)
An external hard drive is useful but not essential - like flash drives they can crash. If you do buy one, go for a reputable make like Seagate or Western Digital. £50 to £100.
CDs - make two copies so if one gets damaged you have a backup from which to make extra copies. 50 CD-R disks cost about £10.
When saving files on computer use sub-folders and give them reference numbers. Put the originals (photos, papers etc) in document wallets with the same index number.
The important thing is to get everything scanned and stored so you have multiple copies and know where to find the originals. When you have free time you can go through individual items and reorganise them.
Storage of originals - like other Rootschatters I recommend acid-free pockets or albums.
And always remember - Rootschatters are great at deciphering hard-to-read writing and restoring battered photos.
Hope this helps
Philip
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Dear 243,
There are some fantastic ideas here. Upon reading these posts, I implore all to save & save a gain somewhere safe.We are currently moving down south of Western Australia, & in our 'wisdom' stored all my family history files (14) with years & years of documents, letters etc, at my sister place in her huge steel shed. Unfortunately they had the Yarloop fires, alas,not only 2 people lost their lives, most of the town was demolished, & yes, we lost everything. I still don't have the heart to begin again, it's just too sad at the moment. No doubt, I will start again, but please save well. :-\
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Paper is still the most reliable method of long term storage.
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Paper is still the most reliable method of long term storage.
Agreed, however!
My oldest lines go back over 600 years and due to the research done by my grandfather (which I inherited) and myself throughout virtually my entire life I have a huge physical archive of family history material.
In fact it is so large I would struggle to access it easily if it were not for computers.
My physical archive is split between two houses roughly 250 miles apart, one in Scotland one in England; since the advent of computers (first with the Commodore 64 then through PCs) this mass of material has been digitised allowing me access wherever I am.
Copies of my digital files are kept on external hard drives at both locations and each time I visit my other house I take an external hard drive carrying the latest copy of new material with me. This hard drive is left and the external hard drive kept at my house brought back with me.
At any one time I have two external hard drives carrying the total research up to date and one external hard drive carrying the records to the pervious research point.
In addition my search is also on the computers at both houses, meaning in the event of hard drive failure only the most recent research is lost.
All my original documents are kept in acid free sleeves but copies and duplicate certificates are kept in cheaper plastic sleeves. Some people wonder why my copy certificates are not kept in acid free sleeves it is simply due to them being readily available copies which can be replaced within a couple of days if need be.
To give some idea of the mass of material held I transported my microfilm/fiches to my house in Scotland about five years ago and the total weight came to just under 5 tons. I could not even contemplate how much the physical archive (paper & books) would weigh.
Digitisation allows me to transport all this material in an external hard drive weighing about the same as a bag of sugar.
Cheers
Guy