Those yellowed, wrinkled love letters that Grandpa sent to Grandma have sentimental value for you but it's possible that they also have historical, archival value. In either case, they should be preserved. A small booklet produced by the Provincial Archives of Alberta, entitled Family Histories, Preserving Your Personal and Family Documents, explains what people should save and how they should go about it.
"We wanted to do this book because sometimes people think their personal papers are not very important. They are not aware of the importance of what they have at home and this book offers guidelines," said Dr. Claude Roberto, of the Provincial Archives of Alberta, and also the book's main author.
The guide explains how to start organizing personal mementoes as well as important personal information that may be needed on an ongoing basis throughout your own life. Those papers could include diplomas and records of personal achievement but they also might be legal documents, housing and real estate deeds, income tax returns and birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates.
All these records should be stored in acid-free containers. Some should be stored in safety-deposit boxes, and some, including expired passports and outdated criminal records, should be destroyed.
The colourful collage of photos throughout the Family Histories booklet offers hints as to why personal information could be important from an archival point of view.
For example, a photo of a woman standing near a lonely prairie church provides a lot of information. To her family it was likely a nice photo of Grandma as a young woman but to archivists it provides clues about her dress, her church and even what the Prairies were like at that time in history.
"It shows the importance of the church for pioneers and it also shows there was nothing around. We need pictures to show the history of the land," Roberto said during a behind-the-scenes tour of the archives to explain the process of assessing documents.
"We look for original and unpublished resources of interest to Albertans. Fifty per cent of the people who come here to do research are here for genealogical purposes," she said.
Storage space is critical in people's homes but also at the provincial archives. Roberto explained that there are 20 temperature and humidity controlled vaults leading off of two 1,250-metre long hallways.
"Each vault has different temperature and humidity controls," she said as she quickly walked in and out of the vault containing film records. That vault is maintained at a frigid -12 C.
Documents are examined to determine if they could have importance to all Albertans. For example, a bill of sale could be important if it was original, and one of a kind, but if there are many other examples that show the same thing, it has little preservation value.
"We ask ourselves, 'Is it original and the only piece of information like it.' If it's the only bill like it, then, yes, we should keep it, but if there are thousands of sources that show the same thing, it should be discarded," Roberto said.
Touching
Like the photo of Grandma at the church, the letters that Grandpa sent to her, asking her to come to Alberta, even though he also wrote that the cow had just died, tell a story about what life was like for the early settlers.
"The letters and diaries outline how hard they had to work and that they had to do everything for their basic living and to get food but as you read them, it often seems that they believe they will never again see their family or their homeland again. It's as if they left home to come to the West forever and that is sometimes very touching," Roberto said.
Once archivists determine whether or not to keep the papers, old maps or photos, the items are examined for damage. Often, even badly soiled or water-damaged materials can be restored, or at the very least preserved in their present condition.
Conservator Alison Freake is currently working on the documents that were recovered last year from the time capsule at the Alberta legislature. The items were placed in the capsule 100 years ago when the legislature was built.
"Unfortunately the capsule wasn't sealed. It was a copper-coated box with a tin lining and the lid was crimped. This shows what happens when stuff is stored in a box for a hundred years and water gets in," Freake said.
The newspaper pages put in the time capsule 100 years ago as a record of what was happening that day in Alberta are now yellowed and brittle. They have big holes in the middle and the layers of folded paper are mouldy and rotten smelling.
"In most cases we wouldn't save these newspapers, because they are not archival. But now they are important as historical objects. We cannot recreate the information but we can stabilize it and stop the damage," Freake explained.
Freake demonstrated how she vacuums and gently brushes away the layers of mould. Sometimes, when items are extremely mouldy, she places them in a closed-in case with a hole for the vacuum nozzle. With care she can work without exposing herself to dangerous spores.
Clear tape must be removed from archival materials because it turns brittle and yellow and eats away the paper. Freake uses what she calls the "elephant trunk" to get rid of solvent fumes, while she dissolves the old tape.
Film buff
Audiovisual conservator Terry O'Riordan's job is to preserve film and recordings.
"Mostly I preserve moving images and motion pictures – anything that is not paper," O'Riordan said.
Even old home movies could be important to future generations, if they capture a sense of what life was like in that day and age. But sometimes making decisions about what to save and what not to save can put families in an emotional tailspin, O'Riordan said.
"It gets tricky, especially when emotion is involved. That's why it is important to get an archivist to help," he said, stressing that storing archival material is the exact opposite of hoarding because it involves making a mindful decision about what to keep and what to throw away.
"It's making informed decisions about just keeping what needs to be kept and selecting what needs to be disposed of. Remember, once you dispose of something, it's gone," he said.
The Family Histories, Preserving Your Personal and Family Documents booklet is available free of charge at the Provincial Archives of Alberta at 8555 Roper Rd. in Edmonton.
Archival restoration services are also available. If the archivists assess the material and wish to keep it, the restoration will be free of charge if the item is donated to the Provincial Archives of Alberta. If families wish to keep the items themselves the restoration fee is $60 per hour.
For more information phone the provincial archives at 780-427-1750 or e-mail [email protected]
