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Virtual Preservation Roadshow: Documents, Bound Volumes & Photographs 2022

Welcome—Thank you for registering for our Virtual Preservation Roadshow!

Is your closet full of boxes of old family photographs? Is your basement bursting with letters, diaries, and other documents from your family history research? Do you have scrapbooks that you want to make sure are around for generations to come? Chances are you have a stack of family papers and photo albums tucked away that you don’t know what to do with. This virtual preservation roadshow will teach you best practices for surveying, handling, and storing family materials and provide you with expert advice on how to care for items in your collection.

Come back to these resources time and again as you organize and preserve your at-home archives! You will have access to this webpage for the foreseeable future and, when logged in to AmericanAncestors.org, can find the link under "My Account"> "Profile">"Digital Content"
 

Special Offers

For Virtual Preservation Roadshow participants only! — Save $10 on an order of $30 or more at our online bookstore. Just enter Preservation12022 as your promo code at the time of online checkout. Offer valid until January 31, 2022. Start browsing today!

Save $500 on the Family Archive Package when you order by February 28, 2022! Our Research Services team will organize, digitize, properly store, and even create a finding aid for your collections. Just mention your participation in this online program when you order: 617-226-1233; research@nehgs.org.

 

RECORDED PRESENTATIONS & INSTRUCTION

Getting Started: Surveying your Collection

Resources by: Judy Lucey, Archivist, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections at American Ancestors Contact: jlucey@nehgs.org

Archivist Judy Lucey discusses the first essential steps in organizing and preserving your family papers: surveying what you have, evaluating the condition of your family items, identifying preservation issues, and making a plan for how to proceed.

Getting Started: Surveying Your Collection Running Time: 1:06:50 Materials:

 

Caring for Photos, Albums, and Scrapbooks

Resources by: Tim Salls, Manager of Manuscript Collections, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections at American Ancestors Contact: library@nehgs.org

A picture is worth a thousand words—but how do we make sure those words are around for generations to come? Learn how to identify the types of photographic materials in your collection, and how to properly care for and store photographs, photo albums, negatives, and scrapbooks.

Caring for Photos, Albums, and Scrapbooks Running Time: 34:14 Materials:

 

Organizing and Preserving Born-Digital Items

Resources by: Stephanie Call, Associate Director of Archives and Education, The Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors Contact: stephanie.call@nehgs.org

Although not paper, born-digital files, such as emails, genealogical software files, and digital photographs, are an integral part of your family history collection and legacy. Learn how to make sure these important files should be cared for and incorporated into your preservation activities.

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Best Practices for Digitizing Family Papers and Photographs

Resources by: Sally Benny, Curator of Digital Collections, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections at American Ancestors Contact: sbenny@nehgs.org

Curator of Digital Collections Sally Benny discusses best practices for digitizing your family papers and photographs at home. She will provide recommendations for scanning equipment and software for enhancing images, and discuss when it’s necessary to seek professional assistance.

Best Practices for Digitizing Family Papers and Photographs Running Time: 46:52 

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Keys to Preservation

Resources by: Todd Pattison, Conservator, American Ancestors Contact: todd.pattison@nehgs.org

Review important tips and resources to get you well on the way towards responsibly caring for your family treasures.

Preserving Your Family Treasures Running Time: 46:24

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Organizing Your Collection and Preparing for Donation to a Repository

Resources by: Lindsay Murphy, Collections Archivist, The Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors Contact: lindsay.murphy@nehgs.org

Now that you have completed your collection survey, identified preservation issues, learned about proper storage, and digitized your collection, it’s time to organize! Collections Archivist Lindsay Murphy offers suggestions on how to arrange your papers and prepare for possible donation to an archive.

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Item Showcase and Q&A with Experts

Live Broadcast: January 22, 2022 Presented by: Todd Pattison and Stephanie Call
Running Time: 1:42:17

 

SUBMISSION FORM

Complete the form below and be sure to attach a photo(s)! Our experts will strive to respond to you with advice within one business week of your submission date. Items must be submitted by April 30, 2022. No other submissions will be accepted after that date.

 

GALLERY OF PARTICIPANT SUBMISSIONS

CLICK HERE to open a gallery of the items submitted by participants. To view more information about each item, including the advice provided by our experts, click on the caption bar on the bottom of each image. [We will continue to add to the gallery as items are submitted and expert advice is provided.]
 

EXPERT BIOS

Stephanie Call, Associate Director of Archives and Education, has been with the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors since 2007 (when it was the New England Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society). She is responsible for overseeing the JHC archival collections, creating educational programming and content, and conducting outreach. Stephanie received a B.A. in English and Jewish Studies from Mount Holyoke College and a M.S. in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archives Management from Simmons College. She is a member of the Society of American Archivists and the New England Archivists.

Chloe Jones, Database Projects Coordinator, earned her B.A. in History at Connecticut College, and holds an M.S. in Library and Information Science with a concentration in archives management from Simmons College. Previously, Chloe has worked with the archive departments of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Natick Historical Society and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. Chloe's research interests include colonial New England, Native American studies, and working with archival collections.

Judith Lucey, Archivist, joined the staff in 2003. She received a B.S. in Education from Northeastern University and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons College. Her genealogical interests include Irish genealogy, Newfoundland, 19th and 20th century genealogy, beginning genealogy, Italian genealogy, and the history of Cambridge and Somerville, Mass. A native of the Boston area, she currently resides in Somerville, Mass.

Lindsay Murphy, Collections Archivist, began her work at Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors in October 2014 as an intern and joined the staff in August 2015. As Collections Archivist, Lindsay manages processing projects and is responsible for reviewing and encoding finding aids. She received a B.A. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.S. in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archives Management from Simmons College. She is a member of the Society of American Archivists and the New England Archivists.

Todd Pattison, Conservator, works to preserve and care for the Society’s collection of books, manuscripts and fine art. Todd comes to American Ancestors with more than 25 years of experience from the Northeast Document Conservation Center, and has also worked as Collections Conservator at the Harvard College Library. Todd is an active member of the New England chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, a Fellow in the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), and for the past five years has taught the course “American Publishers’ Bookbindings, 1800-1900” for Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. He has an undergraduate degree in Art History from Nazareth College and an M.L.S. from the University of Alabama. His research interests include the lives and business careers of nineteenth century American bookbinders.

 

OTHER HANDOUTS & MATERIALS

Resource Guide: Preserving Your Family Treasures

All resources under "Recorded Presentations & Instruction"