How to Archive Family Keepsakes by Denise May Levenick provides suggestions on preserving family photos, heirlooms and genealogical records. The text is divided into three sections. The first section is "I inherited Grandma's Stuff, Now What?" The second is "Break the Paper Habit" and finally the last section is "Root Your Research in Strategies for Success." Regardless of the "stuff" left behind, someone has to sort everything and organize it all. Levenick identifies three roles: the curator, creator and the caretaker. These roles, and how you see yourself, will factor in to how things get organized. The curator organizes items like a museum would - both preserving and exhibiting. Creators may create scrapbooks, pedigrees, biographies and family medical histories. A caretaker simply does not necessarily organize the collection but rather simply archives it. Recognizing your role is an important aspect to archiving family keepsakes. In...
by Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman