Today's DAR
Archivists frequently provide advice about preserving family papers and personal treasures. While working at DAR, I am frequently asked about caring for DAR chapter and state society records. We love discussing our profession, and we’re happy when members ask us for advice on how to care for their personal papers. We’re gratified to know that members recognize the importance of preserving historic items for future generations.
I was very excited when the Society of American Archivists released its new publication, Creating Family Archives: A Step-by-Step Guide to Saving Your Memories for Future Generations. After reading it, I am thrilled to recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about how to care for their personal treasures at home. Author Margot Note is an experienced archival consultant who helps clients manage their family papers and collections. She uses short, concise chapters to explain core archival principles., and this is strengthened by her illustration of real-life archival situations. In the book’s first half, the author demonstrates how anyone can use key concepts such as original order, preservation, item handling strategies and inventories to create a plan to organize and preserve their own papers. In the book’s second half, realistic and relatable examples are used to explain how to preserve specific items, such as paper-based collections, photographs and scrapbooks. Throughout the book, Note uses an encouraging tone that will make anyone feeling overwhelmed more at ease, as she discusses complicated topics such as digitization.
