How can I find a good home for my old family photos / diaries / etc?

[Work in progress....]

Old family papers (letters / diaries / photos / etc) can be valuable historical documents. If you're looking for a good home for your family's papers what are the options?

Here are a few suggestions, based on conversations I've had on this topic. If you've had to find a solution to this question, I hope you'll let us know your own experiences and suggestions in the comments below.

Regards, David

1. Introduction

I'll start by looking at some of the different reasons you might want to hand them on, then ask what it is you're looking for. We'll talk about which types of archives exist, then the practical steps of handing over your material.

2. Why give them away?

Typical reasons include:

I want to make sure they're not thrown away when I'm gone.

This is especially true if the current owner has no descendants, or their descendants show no interest in the papers. Handing the papers on to a trusted third-party promises to keep them safe for the long term.

I want to make them available to all my family.

It can be difficult deciding who to pass the papers on to in the next generation. One solution is to pass them to a neutral third-party, where they can be accessed by all the family.

I want to make them available to the public.

You may want to give them better exposure, so that more people can benefit from them.

I want them on public display.

If it is a rare and important item, you might want it on display. That will probably be unlikely with a pure archive, but might be possible with a museum.

3. What do you want for them?

Different archives will have different strengths, so it's worth thinking what is most important to you.

Preservation.

What storage facilities and processes does the archive have, that will preserve your papers for the long term.

Easy to find - Internet search.

Can we search the archive's contents via the internet, making it easy for people to find your family papers?

Can we just search from Google, or will we have to go to the archive's website and search there?

Easy to find - Stored with similar papers.

Is there an archive that already has similar papers to yours? eg if someone is searching for Hong Kong's wartime diaries, they will soon end up at the Imperial War Museum in London, as they have several diaries in their collection. So choosing an archive with similar papers to yours can make it easier for interested people to find them.

Easy to access.

If you want the papers to be accessible to the public, what is the archive's policy for access? eg is it open to the public? Or is it limited to academic staff working at the institution running the archive? Or ...?

Easy to Access - country.

You will probably find there are several possible archives that could store your papers, in different countries around the world. If you want your family to have easy access to the material, you'd choose an archive in the same country they live in.

4. Possible recipients

5. Making it work

Spreading the word