Preserving Family Treasures

Your family heritage and personal collections are precious to you and to future generations and it’s important to preserve these mementos in the best way possible.

The most important thing you can do to safe guard your treasures is to store them in a stable, cool, and dry environment. Overly dry conditions cause leather to crack and damp conditions cause mold. Try not to place any family treasures in direct sunlight as it can cause fading. Good housekeeping is also important. You should dust objects and keep storage areas clean. This will help prevent insect infestations.

The following are some tips for handling your treasures.

Books

· Shelve upright supported by book ends if needed.

· Store large volumes flat.

Paper

· Store paper items flat, rather than folding and unfolding.

· Paper materials may be store in acid-free file folders.

Photographs

· House photos in protective enclosures to keep out gritty dirt and dust which can scratch images.

· Store all prints and negatives in acid-free boxes. If possible, keep negative separate from print materials.

· Avoid albums constructed of highly colored pages. Never use commercially available “magnetic” or “no stick” albums. These materials will deteriorate quickly over time and could damage photographs.

Proper care, handling and storage of your treasures will help to ensure that they are available for generations to come.

For more information on “Preparing, Protecting, and Preserving” your family treasures visit the following website: http://www.loc.gov/preservation/family/

Happy Valentines Day!

On February 14, Americans celebrate love and friendship by exchanging cards, flowers, and candy. Although the origins of Valentine's Day are murky, ancient Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia, a spring festival, on the fifteenth of February. Like so many holidays, a Christian gloss was added to the pagan fete when the holiday moved to the fourteenth of February—the saint day associated with several early Christian martyrs named Valentine.

The romance we associate with Valentine's Day may spring from the medieval belief that birds select their mates on February 14. During the Middle Ages, lovers recited verse or prose to one another in honor of the day.

Handmade valentines, probably the first greeting cards, appeared in the sixteenth century. Mass production of cards began as early as 1800. Initially hand-tinted by factory workers, by the early twentieth century even fancy lace and ribbon-strewn cards were created by machine.

I folded a little missive
And called it a Valentine
And sent it a-way with its hidden freight
From this fluttering heart of mine