Wednesday 28 October 2015

Unlocking family stories - preservation of materials

We spend a great deal of time collecting information and writing our family stories but it is also important to preserve the material and items that we collect. There are a number of websites providing information about the safe storage of material. A small selection of sites are listed below.

The Library of Congress has just produced these guidelines for preserving paper items, including books, photographs and digital files - http://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/educational/BookPaperPhotoDigitalBookmarks.pdf

Australian War Memorial - Conservation of Documents - https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/conservation/documents/

National Archives of Australia has a section - Preserving your records for the future -
http://www.naa.gov.au/records-management/agency/preserve/index.aspx

National Archives (USA) has a section - How to preserve family papers and documents -
https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/

National Library of Australia has a guide - Preserving Australia's documentary heritage
http://www.nla.gov.au/sites/default/files/starterkitcommunity.pdf

State Library of Victoria has Conservation guides -
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/help/conservation-guides

Department of Premier and Cabinet - Preserving war heritage and memorabilia -
http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/index.php/veterans/victorian-veterans-virtual-museum/preserving-veterans-heritage/preserving-war-heritage-and-memorabilia

Undertaking an online search will produce other resources and articles on this topic