Research Guides: Collecting and Managing Your Personal and Family Records: Objects

Rare and Distinctive Collections

Classroom: Norlin N345

Reading Room: Norlin M350B

Image credit: George W. Nace papers, University of Colorado Boulder Libraries' Archives

From graduation hats to wedding dresses, baby blankets to baby teeth, baseball gloves to bowling trophies– some of our strongest connections to the past come from using and handling tools, furniture, and diverse keepsakes from our ancestors and younger selves.

See the resources below for detailed guides from museum and conservation professionals on storing and preserving the diverse objects.

Suggested resources

Caring for Your Treasures
The American Institute for Conservation offers these free-to-download guides to caring for your family heritage items, from books and photographs to furniture, jewelry and kitchenware, paintings, textiles, and fabrics.
Taking Care
Detailed information from the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, with guides to storing, preserving, and repairing furniture and wooden objects, antiques and metal objects, paintings, textiles, and a variety of diverse paper-based materials.
Find a Conservator
Though much collections care is possible for you to do at home, this directory from the American Institute for Conservation can help you find a professional conservator in your area with expertise in repairing books and paper, media, photographs, antiques, textiles, and wooden objects.
Selected Vendors of Preservation Supplies
Though properly storing records and choosing appropriate environmental conditions can be done at home with little cost, the Smithsonian Institution Archives recommends this list of vendors for buying archival-quality folders, envelopes, boxes, and other supplies.

Suggested books

Saving Stuff by Don Williams; Louisa Jaggar
ISBN: 9780743264167
Publication Date: 2005-06-02
The most comprehensive book on preserving every type of collectible -- from the sentimental to the valuable -- from the Smithsonian's Senior Conservator. For both the serious collector and the sometimes sentimentalist, Saving Stuff explains -- in plain language -- how you can use the techniques of museum professionals to keep your prized possessions in mint condition. You do not need deep pockets or oodles of time: using Don Williams's simple instructions, you can preserve anything quickly and inexpensively. In Saving Stuff, he demystifies preservation and presents easy, foolproof methods anyone can use to save nearly everything, including: Photographs -- in print and digital form Stuff only a parent could love -- from baby teeth to old blankets and first artworks Furniture -- whether it's painted, varnished, or upholstered Family heirlooms -- from silver to rugs to wedding dresses Sports and political memorabilia -- trading cards, posters, equipment, buttons, stickers Attic leftovers -- scrapbooks, military uniforms, medals Musical instruments Fine art -- oil paintings, etchings, lithographs Printed matter -- comic books, magazines, old letters And much, much more With step-by-step instructions, detailed illustrations, tips for making the things you use every day last, and stories about how the Smithsonian takes care of our national treasures, Saving Stuff is the only book you need to take care of the stuff you love.