Secrets from the Stacks

Do you have boxes of old letters, photographs, keepsakes, and family heirlooms that you'd love to save for future generations? Imagine how thrilled your descendants will be a hundred years from now to discover what their ancestors' lives were like and the challenges they overcame during the Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, the Gulf War, September 11, the worldwide pandemic, and other historical events. Today's technology gives you the opportunity to preserve priceless memorabilia and add your story to the mix. Archival best practices are vital to prevent decay and destruction of your family's treasures. In "Secrets from the Stacks," expert archivist Rhonda Chadwick guides you step-by-step on how to organize collections both small and large, properly store and archive photographs, preserve textiles and heirlooms crafted of metal and other materials, and digitize photos, emails, films, audio, and video. With warmth and humor, she reveals the methods archivists use to organize a family legacy, from preserving 19th-century daguerreotypes to 2!81-century photos on your cellphone. You'll learn how to store and ensure access to and retrieval of your social media accounts and digital assets, create memory books, audio and video oral histories with family members, and more. Finally, Chadwick teaches you how to prevent damage or loss of family heirlooms from natural disasters, fire, and theft. Your cherished family stories and memories are important and don't have to die when you do. Recording and preserving your family history is not just a gift for your relatives today; it gives future generations the opportunity to connect with the past and gain a deeper understanding of their own sense of self.