Inherited family documents

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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So I have inherited a lot of these. One of the documents I figured was pretty important. It was the marriage certificate signed by Paul Kruger. My ultra great grandma (English) married the dutch family (Oranje). Apparently Paul Kruger had to sign off all those marriages. Ive taken that to the local museum and passed it onto their care (hope I did the right thing, but they seem jacked up and I have family academics working there).

Now I have loads of others, including autograph books, WW2 related stuff, opinion books (these are way interesting and I might share a couple of scans of them), marriage certificates etc etc etc.

Whats the best way to preserve and store all of this? Right now I am digitizing the whole collection but how else should I manage this collection?
 
You could always build a temperature-controlled room and glass cases;-) Google a little bit, sure some websites out there dedicated to this sort of thing...

Also, would be fascinating to see those scans.
 
I like the idea of giving them to a museum, if you hang on to them they could easily get destroyed or lost. If the museum make a display then you can always take your kids and grand kids to see it.
 
Giving valuable documents to museums is risky at best. We gave some family things to a museum. On recent visits we noticed that lots of things were no longer on display, reported as 'missing' etc. On top of that the museum looked like it was on the brink of closing. They had also shifted their policy to reflect a different history. I would say hold on to anything you consider valuable.
 
blunomore said:
What is an opinion book ?
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Its like an old style poll or something like that. Its a book (in this book its all woman), where the same questions are asked (like what do you think of the men of your time, do you think woman should be involved in politics etc etc).

Tanya35 said:
Giving valuable documents to museums is risky at best. We gave some family things to a museum. On recent visits we noticed that lots of things were no longer on display, reported as 'missing' etc. On top of that the museum looked like it was on the brink of closing. They had also shifted their policy to reflect a different history. I would say hold on to anything you consider valuable.
Click to expand...

The local museum here is in good hands and is healthy, and I have family working in the biology department so Im pretty sure that for now the document is in safe hands.
 
w1z4rd said:
Its like an old style poll or something like that. Its a book (in this book its all woman), where the same questions are asked (like what do you think of the men of your time, do you think woman should be involved in politics etc etc).



The local museum here is in good hands and is healthy, and I have family working in the biology department so Im pretty sure that for now the document is in safe hands.
Click to expand...

Should things change, would you have the right to retrieve anything? This country is still 'transforming', money is tight, so anything is possible. The museum looked great when we handed over our things.
 
Tanya35 said:
Should things change, would you have the right to retrieve anything? This country is still 'transforming', money is tight, so anything is possible. The museum looked great when we handed over our things.
Click to expand...

I would be able to retrieve it. Its on long term loan. Ive less fear of the "transforming" than you do. People who like old things like old things. The people at the local museum really like old things. I have two second cousins (lifers) at the local museum so I am confident of its care. Our museum does not rely on public funds alone and our "friends of the museum" are very active.

Its not a small museum. Which city are you in that your museum is degrading?
 
SiriS said:
wizard = towenaar in afrikaans
Click to expand...

hehe. If thats the dutch word for it.

I was under the impression most Afrikaners are of dutch / french Huguenot / black / German mix. So no ethnic Afrikaans in me as far as I know.
 
w1z4rd said:
hehe. If thats the dutch word for it.

I was under the impression most Afrikaners are of dutch / french Huguenot / black / German mix. So no ethnic Afrikaans in me as far as I know.
Click to expand...

yeah, it was a lame joke in any case :o:p
 
w1z4rd said:
So I have inherited a lot of these. One of the documents I figured was pretty important. It was the marriage certificate signed by Paul Kruger. My ultra great grandma (English) married the dutch family (Oranje). Apparently Paul Kruger had to sign off all those marriages. Ive taken that to the local museum and passed it onto their care (hope I did the right thing, but they seem jacked up and I have family academics working there).

Now I have loads of others, including autograph books, WW2 related stuff, opinion books (these are way interesting and I might share a couple of scans of them), marriage certificates etc etc etc.

Whats the best way to preserve and store all of this? Right now I am digitizing the whole collection but how else should I manage this collection?
Click to expand...

Awesome!
Rather use a camera than a scanner as it will be less destructive.
There are several pods you could make and several ways you can use a standard tripod to achieve this.
 
w1z4rd said:
I would be able to retrieve it. Its on long term loan. Ive less fear of the "transforming" than you do. People who like old things like old things. The people at the local museum really like old things. I have two second cousins (lifers) at the local museum so I am confident of its care. Our museum does not rely on public funds alone and our "friends of the museum" are very active.

Its not a small museum. Which city are you in that your museum is degrading?
Click to expand...

Grahamstown. Transformation is not that interested in Paul Kruger IMHO.
 
Eish, Doubt it will be a problem, The Pretoria Museum is still known as the Transvaal museum (or was last I checked).
 
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