preserving certificates?

[stephen7]

hi all,
 just been pouring over my certificate collection and noticed a few starting to get tatty.
 how do you people preserve them? been contemplating laminating them but noticed a few are even to large for a4 lanimating sheets.
ideas and suggetions most welcome
steve

[exessexgirl]

Hi Stephen.

I place mine individually inside plastic sheet protectors, and store them in file holders. That way you can see the details of each one without having to handle them. The plastic sheet holders are just the right size for the certificates. You can buy them in 100/200 sheets per box, and they arn't expensive to buy.  Lyn

[Gadget]

I scan all mine and keep the originals in archive boxes by family - with copies of marriage/death of females in with their husband's kin.

The images are then filed in the appropriate folder on my PC.

Also have a back up on CD or USB flash drive.

I do the same for wills and other documents.

Gadget

[CarolBurns]

Laminating sounds like a good idea though as you say there are some that are larger than A4 but you can get A3 pouches and cut them down - keeps them safe from spills etc as well.

Might try one of mine with that and see what it is like

Carol

[JDGen]

You should use acid free plastic wallets to preserve certificates.  Over a period of time both laminating and other wallets will start to react and lift the ink.  If you search under genealogy supplies you will see that some suppliers have special binders for your certificates.

I always scan mine as well so if I lost the certificates I would still have the image (and I also make backups regularly after losing my hard drive earlier this year - fortunately I did have a backup!)

Jean

[Gadget]

You should use acid free plastic wallets to preserve certificates.  Over a period of time both laminating and other wallets will start to react and lift the ink.  If you search under genealogy supplies you will see that some suppliers have special binders for your certificates.

I always scan mine as well so if I lost the certificates I would still have the image (and I also make backups regularly after losing my hard drive earlier this year - fortunately I did have a backup!)

Jean

Acid free - or as Prue would say - Ph neutral. They can be bought from good Photography suppliers as well as Genealogical suppliers and are probably cheaper that way.

Never, never, plastic 

Gadget

[kerryb]

Excuse me if I ask a dumb question but are we talking original certificates here or GRO copies or both??

Kerry

[PrueM]

If you want to keep any certificates or papers safe and useable, I agree that plastic (polypropylene or polyethylene only) is the way to go.  Not sure if you have them where you are, or what they are called, but here in Oz we have "view books" which are cheap display books with plastic covers and lots of pockets inside.  They can be bought from the newsagents and are perfectly fine for archival storage.  You can add more pages as needed.  Never buy anything with PVC.  It's the devil's work 

Alternatively, look for "photo safe" pockets, or ones from archival or conservation products suppliers.

NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER laminate anything that you don't want to ruin!  Laminating basically melts crappy plastic into the matrix of paper fibres and when the plastic eventually starts to lift at the edges (as it always does), if you try to peel it off, it takes the paper with it.  I have seen so many examples of irreplaceable documents completely destroyed by laminating.  Please don't do it!

Cheers
Prue

[kerryb]

I hadn't thought about doing anything with the many certificates I have bought.  Perhaps I should scan them onto the computer in the first instance and then look at how I store them.  At the moment they are all in envelopes.

Hmmmm

Kerry