Say you find a shopping bag full of letters from the 1940s....or a trunk with letters from the 1890s....or maybe your preschool's scrapbooks from the 1950s are in danger of being pitched in exchange for much needed storage. What to do? Some tips:

1. READ them! Wash your hands, maybe even wear gloves, but read the letters, the scrapbook. They're bound to be personally interesting (if you've been rooting around in the attic to begin with). Fold and unfold with care. Be careful to preserve their order if they seem to have one. For now, return them to their original container.

2. THINK: Do you want to keep them in the family/school, or maybe they should be in a library where researchers can have access too? One big benefit of donating such items to a research library is that they will be preserved with the utmost archival care--they'll be in ideal conditions for longterm survival. Another is that these items may be valuable insights into the past for historians. Historians aren't just interested in famous people; the everyday lives of average joes are of great interest, but harder to document.

3. I WANT TO KEEP THEM HOME. Okay, that's cool too. The best plan is to put them individually in acid-free folders, in an acid-free archival box. Mark the folders with the date and correspondents; put them in any order that makes sense to you. One good idea, if you get a chance, is to transcribe them--that way, you can share their contents without exposing them to additional risk of damage. (A bound set of great-grandfather's letters home from WWII might be a great gift at the holidays--and you're the only one who can give it.) Don't put them in any kind of plastic container, and store them well away from any flood hazard, food odors, insects, children....

4. HM, MAYBE THE LIBRARY IS A GOOD IDEA. Right, it can be, but where to start? Call the nearest university library and ask for their "special collections" department--this is where letters and other manuscripts are made available in a reading room for scholars. If your nearest school doesn't have one, you may want to work with your own alma mater, or the nearest state university, or your state historical society.

Explain what you have, and try to think of it in terms of broader context: not "Uncle Jack's letters to Aunt Sadie," but "wartime correspondence between a young Connecticut man and his future wife, commenting on conditions in the South Pacific." Not "our preschool's scrapbooks from the 1950s," but "records of the first parent-participation preschool in the South Bay, beginning with handwritten planning minutes from 1952." Have a rough count of how many letters, in what condition, dates, places, etc.

Don't be shocked if they say "no thank you." Your letters may not fall under their specializations--and libraries are always, always, always crushed for space. Ask instead if they can refer you to a better home for your documents.

If you are worried about who will read the documents, discuss putting restrictions on their use with the librarian you're working with. You can often reserve the right to be notified about, or approve, who looks at them, or set aside a few letters that require your special permission. Remember that special collections departments already screen their readers pretty strictly, requiring ID and registration, and a daily record of materials consulted--they know their patrons and are satisfied that they have legitimate academic reason to be reading them.

5. ISN'T THIS A LOT OF TROUBLE? WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME? Well.... you can get to take a tax deduction for your donation, that's pretty nice to remember this time of year. And you'll have the peace of knowing that they materials are truly safe and sound. One less box in your closet, too!

6. WHAT ABOUT THESE OLD BOOKS.... Stop! Very, very very very few libraries want your old books. They have enough trouble storing their own old books. Books get pulped all the time by libraries trying to make space. Best to go to a used bookseller, or online, instead--you might make some bucks selling them; or just find someone to give them to, who will really appreciate them.

Have you donated old letters or other documents? Do you currently own such items in your private collection?

Penny

I do have bags of notes I passed in 8th grade and high school

I did find one interesting thing once. After my grandfather died, I was given a little desk from his house and stuck in the back of the drawer was an envelope dating back to 1941. In those days, the house was owned by my great grandparents and was run as a boarding house.

I scanned everything in so that I would have a digital copy. I've used the letterhead to make magnets and other things. That's really the extent of it. I considered the papers a family curiosity but nothing that would really interest anyone else. Of course, that's not going to stop me from sharing them...

The envelope:


The letter, written by one of my great-grandparents:


Their business card (note the 2-digit phone number!):


Lisa

Lisa Clarke Wife to Neil (4/1/95) Mother to Aidan (2/26/00) & Eamonn (4/4/03) Owner of Polka Dot Creations Keeper of the keys to the Polka Dot Cottage

I like to look at the handwriting. Transcribing is a good idea, though, and so is the archival folders. Thanks for reminding me. I only have one or two examples of my grandmother's writing (she died in the 30s) and of my great grandmother. They are treasures worth keeping. No interest to anybody else. Just personal letters and a baby book.