Proper Archival Copying of Letters ?

Question

I have letters my Grandfather wrote to his Mumsey during the Spanish American war. How can I copy them properly to preserve them in books I am compling for the grandchildren.

Answer 1

Very cool. I've been doing the same thing with my father's letters he wrote from Inchon and Chosin during the Korean War. Most of these were written on cheap rice paper or whatever he could get. They can't stand much handling, and I doubt your's are in better shape.

I've settled for scanning them into the computer at the highest resolution. They are backed up off site (carbonite.com). I can print the image on an alkaline based paper or 100% rag bond, and bind them in a book, but  I use a laser printer which uses toner (not archival, due to heat changes) and refuse to print with ink-jets (fading and humidity sensitivity). Printer's ink will outlive most other media, but is impractical for so few copies. I've also transcribed most of them to text (very portable between systems), so the information exists at several places and in several formats.

CDs and other computer media cannot be considered archival. I have fifty pounds of floppy disks that can't be read by modern computers in my closet that attest to that.

So, my strategy is simply to make lots of physical plane copies on good paper, and spread them around. And make lots of virtual copies and spread them around to far away family members in case my house burns down.

There are websites that specialize in archival storage; probably would be good to explore for taking care of your originals.

http://www.webyfl.com/index.asp?PageActi...

http://www.hfmgv.org/explore/artifacts/a...

Good luck and congrats on your treasure!