5 Great Ways to Preserve Your Family Memories

Your family has been busy building a lot of memories, and it is important that you preserve mementos, letters and photos for the current generation to enjoy. In fact, they will become very valuable processions after you are gone. Here are some tips to help you preserve your family’s memories.

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Trinkets and Mementos

There are a couple of solutions to storing trinkets and mementos. If you want to display them, then consider putting them in shadow boxes that are designed to block ultraviolet rays. If you do not want to display them, then consider storing them in specially designed acid-free archival boxes. Curators like those at the Library of Congress says that the worst thing that you can do is store them in plastic bins as they often end up ruined by water and mold when disaster strikes.

Letters and Important Papers

One of the worse things that you can do is laminate papers and letters that you want to hold onto for eternity. Instead, choose to store them in high-quality acid-free and lignin-free paper folders. Consider making a copy, and then hanging the copy in picture frames for all to enjoy. Store the original where it will not be exposed to light and will be protected from excess humidity.

Pictures

The best way to store pictures is to make copies. Then, store them in different places. For example, you may want to keep your most important pictures in a safe deposit box, hang a copy on your wall and store another on the cloud. That way, it is very unlikely that something can happen to all three copies.

Silver

That beautiful set of silverware that your grandparents gave you for your wedding is definitely something that you will want to hold onto, but keeping it from tarnishing can be difficult. Store it where the humidity never reaches above 50 percent. You can find special cloth that you can wrap around silver to keep it from tarnishing. Basements are horrible places to store silver because of the humidity levels in most of them.

Paintings

If you are an art collector or have a member of your family who loves to collect art, then hang the work on a wall that has studs. Fastening the painting to the stud makes it more stable. Consider using additional hangers under large paintings to help handle the weight. Think about light and humidity before you choose the place to hang your painting.

There are many things that you will want to hang onto for a long time. Curator’s caution, however, to be selective in what you hold onto because of the expense and space required to hold onto everything.