Preserving Your Papers

On Sunday’s I read the Daily Press and enjoy reading the questions posed to Amy Dickinson of “Ask Amy” column, and this one caught my attention, being that it is relative to this blog post. It read:

Ask Amy

Dear Amy: You told “Clean Jean” that it would be a good idea to shred 15-year-old divorce documents between her and husband, rather than share them with her children.

I disagree; these documents become historical records and are part of a family’s history. She should keep them.                                                                                                      – Family Historian                                      Amy writes back:                                                                              Dear Historian: You make a great point.  Thank you                        http://amydickinson.com/

First, I want to thank Amy for understanding the importance of preserving family documents, even if they are reviewed as a sad situation for a family, and printing this in her column. Second, I want to thank the Family Historian for her or his astute stewardship.  The information on divorce papers is a resource for family histories, as well as other papers such as birth & death certificates, last wills & testaments, military discharge papers, etc. The very thing that is most important is that all paper documents that are not digitally saved (for those that are in this form are safe), the information is extremely vital for genealogical research and verification. Refer to the posted date April 4 (Friday Feature)for more assistance with ancestral study and for more info on conservation and preservation, see March 28^th post.   

Responsible planning and management of these references is imperative and the very essence of a family is its history.  When creating your family museum, try to incorporate space for special archival storage boxes that protect and preserve paper. http://www.dickblick.com.
And for all of you, like the Family Historian, thank you and keep up the good work.

Remember, the present needs to take care of the past for the future to learn.  

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