Monday, June 11, 2007

"I've Inherited an Attic Full of History"

I love to browse the shelves at the library. Even though I have scouted these shelves for six years on a regular basis, I almost always find something that I have not read, or even seen, that could help me in my family history research.

Today was no different - I found the two paperback volumes titled "HELP! I've Inherited an Attic Full of History" by Althea Douglas, Ma.A., C.G.(C), published in 1998 and 1999, in Toronto by The Ontario Genealogical Society. The subtitle is "A guide for genealogists -- and others -- on ways to hand the past on to the future." The two volumes have titles of:

I: Dating, evaluating and disposing of the accumulation of a lifetime."

II: Archival conservation in the home environment: How to care for organic materials, older artifacts and photographs, with some thoughts on obsolete technology."

These little volumes are jam packed with great descriptions and useful tips to date, evaluate, sort, dispose of, save, and care for the stuff you find in an attic, a garage, a basement, a closet, or a den of your relatives.

Volume I covers physical management of the treasures, intellectual evaluation and valuation, how to dispose of items, a good summary of the types of historical photographs, including a chronology, and a discussion of technology found in the attic.

In Volume II, author describes how to conserve, care, store and display organic materials (e.g., papers, fibres, leathers) and non-organic materials (e.g., stone, glass, ceramics, metals). There are also chronological histories of sound, video, computer and other technologies that can be really useful.

I wonder if these books are still available for sale by the OGS? If so, I'd like to buy them!

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