Caring For Your Personal Collections
The following resources provide advice on preserving your personal collections of books, photographs, and recordings.
PRESERVATION WEBSITES
- Caring for Your Treasures
- Caring for Your Collections
- Caring for Your Family Archives
Frequently asked questions about family archives answered by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
- Disaster Resources for the Public
- Home Film Preservation Guide
- Preserving My Heritage
- Your Old Books
A collection of two-page guides on the proper care and maintenance of your family heirlooms and works of art from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works.
Advice on the care of books, leather bindings, newspapers, photographs, records, and other media in personal collections from the Library of Congress Preservation Directorate. Includes a section on preserving treasures after a disaster.
A list of resources to help individuals save their family treasures after a disaster from the Heritage Preservation Emergency National Task Force.
Simple guidelines for preserving motion picture films with a focus on storage at home from the Association of Moving Image Archivists.
Short guides on how to care for a variety of family treasures including baskets, globes, kitchen utensils, and woodworking tools from the Canadian Conservation Institute.
A guide to frequently asked questions about rare books and rare book values published under the auspices of the Rare Book and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
PRESERVATION BOOKS
- Landry, Gregory J., et al. The Winterthur Guide to Caring for Your Collection. 2000.
- Long, Jane S. and Richard W. Long, et al. Caring for Your Family Treasures. 2000.
- Williams, Don and Louisa Jaggar. Saving Stuff: How to Care for and Preserve Your Collectibles, Heirlooms, and Other Prized Possessions. 2005.
Covers a wide range of materials from books and photographs to ceramics and metals to textiles, furniture, and gilded frames. Nicely illustrated.
Also covers a wide range of materials including film and videotape, clocks and watches, toys, musical instruments, and tips on making new scrapbooks or albums. Nicely illustrated.
Takes a more irreverent approach and covers the widest range of materials (including how to preserve your child's macaroni artwork) with sections on the "Museum of You," "Saving Family Stuff," "Pop Culture," and "Preserving Really Valuable Stuff."
SELECTING A CONSERVATOR
- Guidelines for Selecting a Conservator
How to select a qualified conservator from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works.