April 15, 2009 | Guest Writer, Esther Chung
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Archives are precious treasures. They are invaluable materials for researchers and future generations about our history. Records about your family, business, or organization should be properly preserved, but you may not know how to begin. Here are some tips on getting started.
First, assess what you have. If there are boxes of photos, papers, or documents, pull them out and look at the items. Items of interest:
For family or personal archives
· Letters
· Diaries or journals
· Scrapbooks
· Programs, invitations
· Newspaper clippings about the individual or family
· Obituaries
· Photographs or albums
· Legal records
For organizations
· Charters, by-laws
· Meeting minutes
· Programs, Press releases
· Newsletters, brochures
For businesses
· Financial and legal records
· Flyers, calendars, schedules, posters, menus
· Correspondence
· Photographs
Secondly, decide what is important to keep. Arrange the files in the order they were created, maintained, or used. Or, if it makes more sense, organize the items by document type. This may involve grouping similar items together then placing them in folders or boxes.
Thirdly, use these tips to preserve your items:
Do’s
1. Find a stable environment (below 75° F and 50% humidity) with adequate ventilation to store your archives
2. Dust materials periodically and inspect for evidence of mold and insect infestation
3. Protect materials with museum or archival quality boxes, sleeves, and folders
4. Copy newspaper articles onto acid-free paper
5. Use only PVC-free page protectors such as polypropylene or polyester
6. Use PH-neutral adhesives such as UHU-glue
7. Interleave acidic items (i.e., newsprint) with buffered tissue
8. Use soft pencils only, and write with a light hand
9. Identify and date each item directly on the item itself; identify each person in photographs
10. Use only chemically stable matting material and a window-mat for framed photos and drawings to hold them away from the glass
11. Unfold or unroll items flat for storage (generally)
Don’ts
1. Don’t expose materials to unnecessary light
2. Don’t store precious materials in the attic, the basement, or in hot or damp spaces
3. Don’t store precious materials in wood boxes or cabinets, or in cardboard shoe boxes
4. Don’t press a book’s spine to force it completely open when reading or copying
5. Don’t use tape of any kind (masking, transparent, removable) or rubber cement
6. Don’t use staples, ordinary paper clips, straight pins, or rubber bands
7. Don’t use ballpoint pens for marking
8. Don’t write on paper that rests on top of precious books, photos, or documents
9. Don’t do anything to materials that cannot easily be reversed
10. Don’t attempt any conservation treatment without the guidance of a trained conservator
Lastly, preserve your photographs in acid-free boxes or albums. Here are some tips when handling photographs:
1. Identify the people, event, and date on the back of every photograph with pencil or archival pen
2. Keep photos in an area where changes in temperature and humidity are not severe or rapid (i.e. attics and garages are not good places)
3. When handling photos, never touch the image side
4. Never use glue, tape, staples, rubber bands, or paper clips on photos
5. Never store photos and negatives in “magnetic” photo pages (these albums have adhesive-covered cardboard with a plastic cover on each page)
It takes some work to preserve your materials, but the end result is well-worth the effort. After all, if we do not preserve our history, it will seem as if we were never here.
If you have items of historical significance about Asian Americans in Austin, you can donate your archives to the Austin History Center. We will process the items and make them available for researchers and future generations for historical research purposes.
Next topic will be conducting oral history interviews to preserve your family’s history.
Esther Chung is the Neighborhood Liaison at the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. For more information, please contact Esther at (512) 974-7394 or esther.chung@ci.austin.tx.us.
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