Correspondence provides a rare personal connection with ancestors. And the penmanship is very difficult to even distinguish letters, much less words. I actually tend to put them in folders after Ive put them in the sheet protectors. I usually like to limit fragile papers to about fiveper folder. Use your smartphone to take a photo (or several photos) of the letter. Join the newsletter. But please take the time to straighten out those little creases at the corner of your documents and letters. For example, do you have lots of letters from only one person? 1) Keep cards in a large, see-through container: The more unusual the container, the better: a big pickle jar, wire basket, large glass vase or apothecary jar. Leaving letters folded and in their envelopes will do more damage as time goes by. Yesterday, I got a package in the mail from my Sister. How should I store old letters of varying sizes and ages? I have a suitcase full of old family photographs. Old letters are precious families heirlooms. (Hint: don't put it in the attic.) You dont say how the letters have been stored, but you can slow down the deterioration by opening the pages to store them flat, and place them in acid-free folders inside an archival box. In this case, you will need to take steps to help them flatten. Correctly label the digital images you take so you can easily find them later. How to preserve old letters. This article was very useful to me. I have some letters, documents, and twolittle notebooks from my great grandfather (1850 - 1900) thatare moldy and smell and havewhite spots for humidity. 8. 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272, Repairing Damage to Family Papers and Photographs, What to Do About Moldy or Insect-infested Family Papers and Photographs, More About Caring for Family Papers and Photographs. I am engaged in just such a project. I have alot regarding distant family members with my surname collection. DO NOT USE METAL PAPER CLIPS Please do not use metal paper clips, in fact, NEVER use any metal on any of your documents. By doing this you may do more harm than good as you may add more folds and creases. I see it is time to sort and store some documents. One way to organize these letters could be to divide them into four groups (my great-grandparents had four kids), and then put them into chronological order. I recently inherited a very large collection of items including letters, photos, albums, etc. Ink can fade and paper can crumble. This process gives you three layers of protection for your letters to ensure they are completely preserved and protected from bugs, dust, and anything else that could get to them and damage them. Archivists prefer to put their encapsulated letters into archival file folders and then into archival boxes, being sure to keep the chronological order intact. One thing that I have learned while tracing my family tree is that backing up your research is essential. They may not all come off perfectly in one go so be patient or you will rip the label. Keep all food, liquids, pens, and smoke away from your workspace. I think the iron was only warm. This may have had meaning to the recipient. The books keep the letters flat and keep the light off them. It will make your life much easier if you make an index to the letters in your binder, even though it will be a little more work. This step is important to me because I want to make sure that my descendants, or whoever it is that takes up the family history torch in my family, understands how important these letters are. This means that our one chance to scan it as a PDF or image and get a copy of the letter is before we put it in the sleeve. This is a simple way to begin organizing your letters. They are over 100 years old and I have my family bible from my parents wedding in 1928. Stay up-to-date with all of the posts &get exclusive content! Your email address will not be published. Be sure to put the envelope with the letter in the same sleeve so that it doesnt get lost or mixed up with another letter that it doesnt belong to. For example, put all the World War II letters together, all the college letters together, etc. Keep paper happy. Is there any guidance as to how to choose the best child to receive all my letters and genealogical items? This is a good choice for organizing if you worry about finding a certain persons letters quickly and efficiently. Just a huge thank you. The main reason is that people will frequently take them in and out of their envelopes to read them over and over which can cause damage. Thanks again! It is great to find such useful information. Receive your free bundle with templates and a resource guide instantly, plus future resources and tutorials. The oils on your hands can cause damage to old, fragile, paper. 6 Common Genealogy Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, How to Use Online Family Trees The Right Way. Keep the temperature below 75 degrees Fahrenheit (F). If your envelope still has the flap intact, make sure it is folded down on itself so it is not touching the letter. It is also well-worth effort. Old letters like these need careful preservation. Many genealogists have piles of letters, shoe boxes full of letters or stacks of letters held together with a rubber band or ribbon. Here are 5 steps to preserve your old documents and letters. Don't worry too much about keeping things neat. I have linear feet of various family letters. It is a good idea to take letters out of their envelopes and then file them together. Thats great, Susan! You may have love letters, letters written by a soldier back home, or just day to day correspondence. There are two scanners that I recommend for you to choose between. Wouldnt this be a good idea to proctect from fire? The oils from your fingers can discolor the places on the letter where you held it or touched it. How Do You Preserve Old Handwritten Letters? - Who are You Made Of Whether you have 100 letters or just one, they are important to your family history and add to your family story. I could use more storage containers! Here are five easy tips to help preserve and store those old documents and to make sure your family legacy lives on: Use inexpensive document safes (depending on the number of documents to protect) A4 (US letter size) document safes can run $50 (30) and provide excellent protection. Check out the following 10-minute video presented by the State Archives of North Carolina. Handling Family Papers and Photographs Storing Family Papers and Photographs Displaying Family Papers and Photographs Digitizing Family Papers and Photographs This means that the basement or garage are off limits for long-term storage of important documents like these. In this post, learned what to should do up save protect this history for generations to come. Prep your workspace. So, for that reason, you will need to read what is in these documents and letters and try to make sense of them. Create folders on your computer, like "2011 Christmas," or just "2011" for all letters received then, or maybe "Schmidt Family" for all letters received over the years from a specific family. You can add metadata tags to the file properties. These simple tips will help you preserve your family papers and photographs for the next generation. There are many ways to sort and organize your letters, so just pick what makes the most sense to you. Oops. These letters cannot (and should not) be handled many more times, which is why I decided to go through the process of preserving all of these artifacts of family history. Remember, you dont want to separate them; keep letter and envelope together at all times. Instead, allow the loosely folded pages to sit undisturbed for a few hours. How Do I Preserve Old Handwritten Letters? - quikbhuktani.com I then made copies of the letters and had them put into book form by a copying place and sent the books to my first cousins. Wash Your Hands. Digitizing your old family letters lets you digitally preserve the content for future generations. Letter writing has gone by the wayside since the invention of the telephone, e-mail, texting, Twitter, and Facebook, just to name a few ways of modern communication. Lay flat and store in a flat document box, in archival folders with acid-free tissue between each page, Lay flat and store in upright document box, in archival folders with acid-free tissue between each page, Store each page separately in acid-free sheet protectors and place in a binder or archival document box, Whatever method you choose, keep the envelopes with the letters. The enormous majority of the letters are of one 1940s - 1980s, which I realize is quickly becoming old history. There are several ways to safely make a digital copy of the old letters. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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All have one thing in commonthey're made from paper, in its many colors, shapes and sizes. Keep pages together in their original order by placing each letter with its envelope in an individual acid-free, lignin-free archival file folder. Do you want to know of steps to make to preserve old handwritten alphabet? Keep the boxes or binders in a cool, low humidity (15%-65%) place to prevent brittleness, insects, and mold. Place the letter flat on a table in a well-lit space. So, if you find yourself in the possession of handwritten letters, consider yourself very fortunate indeed. Place the letter(s) inside the container on a layer of acid-free paper. Thanks for this information. Unfold and remove any bindings. This may help you identify mysterious references to people and events a relative mentions having previously written about. Donating Your Personal or Family Records to a Repository Remember to scan them before storing and transcribe from the digital image instead of the original. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Flip through the box whenever you'd like to reread some old cards! They are currently in a big cardboard box, which is not an ideal long-term storage plan, and so my project now is to begin the process of preserving them. This will help straighten out your document or letter. Do not store in the basement, attic, or garage. A couple years ago, I was doing research in a courthouse in Ohio. You did not mention scanning them to a computer. Duplication is a fundamental key to preservation. Currently, they are stored flat with envelope in PVC-Free sheet protectors. I am not in favor of putting color to old black and white photos. As you take measures to preserve the letters, study them for news of friends and family that you can extract and confirm for your family tree. YourStory Collection: This product has been handpicked to help with your personal preservation projects. Carefully unfold the old letter and lay it flat. Your email address will not be published. I appreciate your information concerning the preservation of these items. I think it is very important to preserve old documents, files, videos, photos or something else, because, memory of our dead relatives lives in such things. Every piece of correspondence, including mundane business letters, holds the potential to extend or disrupt pedigrees, to add biographical information to ancestor sketches, and to expand our understanding of the families we study. This can cause damage to them and may make reading them harder as they age. Only after typing up these stories did I become engrossed in my family history and that I wanted to learn more about them. So, when choosing what sleeves to use select from acid-free or polypropylene sleeves. I also have two little books that my father gave to my mother before they were married. Restoring Ink on Faded Documents - American Library Association You do not have to get up out of your chair and go to another part of the room where you have filed these heirlooms away. Historical letters offer an in-depth look into the daily lives, inner thoughts and feelings, communities, cultural norms, and important events as experienced by the letter writer. How to Preserve To Family Memories, Letters and Trinkets (Published 2018) If the old letter that you have was written by a person who is no longer with us, you might consider sending the letter to a descendant of the person who wrote the letter. Dear Donia, How do store old letters and newspaper clippings? Those of us who are working on our family trees will be able to find details about our family that could never be discovered any other way than through a letter written by someone who was living through an experience. I think it would be helpful. In the late 19th century, stationery used for letter writing could be either type of paper. This is a great box to not only store documents and letters but also newspaper clippings, photos, and family records as well. 14 ideas for saving your favorite cards and letters Maybe you have heard the word preservation and really didnt know what it meant. I feel it is important to leave your family legacy to whoever you can. These letters were written to him, when she was just 15 years old. These are not only important to your family history but to world history, especially if your ancestor wrote about the war in their letters. How to Preserve Old Handwritten Letters - Name Census What to do with Cards, Letters + Other Handwritten Keepsakes - simplify 101 You can also visit The National Archives website where you will get valuable advice on how to handle, store, display, digitize and repair family papers and photos. But even doing that can be stressful, to say the least. First things first, lets get organized. (. In the index, youd record which box or binder and file folder that letter could be found in. Its the best way to added another layer of protection. I have acquired letters from WW1. I am asked all the time about letters and whether to leave them folded and in their envelopes. In addition, I am also using acid-free sheet protectors, which cost about $10 for 50, to store the scanned copy of the letter in a binder, which you will learn more about below. For millennia, written records have provided essential clues to the past. The creases made by folding and unfolding letters can cause damage and eventually those creases get weak and can cause the letters to tear into pieces. Wash and dry your hands. What is the England and Northwestern Europe DNA Ethnicity on Ancestry? After you have grouped them, then organize by date. Writing letters has become a thing of the past! Go very slowly, try not to press too hard on the letter as you scan. Some of my favorite letters are migration letters, those letters written by family members who migrated to different parts of the US or from one country to another. Fortunately, the process to preserve old letters is easy enough to follow. Is there any way I could have this transferred to either a CD or dvd? This staple remover will help to safely remove them. Place in your archival storage. (Note: the links to Denises book are Amazon affiliate links, meaning that Amazon pays me a little bit when someone purchases through those.). If youre lucky enough to have old letters from your family passed down to you, you might be wondering how to preserve them. Personal Histories Preserved for Community Memory. Metal paper clips will damage your documents by rusting and adhering to your documents. Is there a translation program I can use or do I need to find perhaps a German teacher to translate for me? Some webpages have a print friendly option in addition to the share/tweet/email/like options but I dont see one here. (Click here forGaylords Family Archives Document Preservation Kit, complete with archival folders and an archival box.). Congratulations! Another option is to use a wand scanner to make a digital copy of the old letters. I keep them flat in acid free bound books. This would provide a nice story to the future reader because events and people would be easy to keep track of. Both of these have had favorable reviews on Amazon. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Do not skimp on this step; you must use proper sleeves. 1 Store them in a labeled box. If so, then you might consider simply organizing your letters in chronological order. Great question! I have letter in Russian and or Ukranian, how Do I have them translated.

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