2016 Summer Seminar – Preserving & Sharing Our Family Treasures

2016 Summer Seminar with Denise May Levenick

In every family, someone ends up with “the stuff.” Denise May Levenick is a writer, researcher, and speaker with a passion for preserving and sharing family treasures of all kinds. She is the creator of the award-winning family history blog, The Family Curator (TheFamilyCurator.com) and author of How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia and Genealogy Records, (Family Tree Books, 2012).

Denise inherited her first family archive from her grandmother – a trunk filled with photos, letters, documents, and lots of “miscellaneous stuff” and is now the caretaker of several family collections. She has adapted professional archival techniques to the family archive situation and shares her experiences in her books and blog.

Denise is a frequent contributor to family history magazines and online publications, and presenter for webinars and workshops. She is also a member of the 2016 faculty for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh.

Topics

Friday, July 29, 2016

• Session 1: Be Your Own Family Archivist
  Family historians who inherit photos, documents, and memorabilia, and genealogists who work with family collections, must often go beyond the role of researcher to become archivists and curators. This session introduces best practices for long-term preservation of family treasures including photos, film, documents, artifacts, and other heirlooms. We’ll discuss “what to save, what to toss,” how to choose appropriate archival storage containers, and where to set up your own home archive.
• Session 2: How to Scan an Elephant
  Preserving family collections begins with a master plan for digitizing all kinds of materials. But, how do you scan an elephant? This session will give an overview of popular scanners and other devices to show you how to digitize awkward artifacts and oversize items, and highlight the apps, accessories, and expert tips to help you achieve great digital images.
• Session 3: Caring for Keepsakes: The Top 10 Family Treasures
  Learn how to care for the Top Ten Family Treasures from photographs to furniture, from love letters to lockets, clocks, and Bibles. Learn to identify common hazards such as silverfish, mold, acid migration, and how to safely store your heirlooms for easy research access.
• Session 4: Dirty Pictures: Save Your Family Photos from Ruin
  Dirty negatives, smudged old photos, curled panorama pictures, and photos stuck in sticky albums. Learn how to rescue your family photos, albums, and scrapbooks from the ravages of time. This practical presentation will show you simple and safe methods for working with old and fragile family photos, as well as 20th century vintage snapshots and film.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

• Session 1: Secrets in the Attic: Break Down Brick Walls with Home Sources
  Family history begins at home. Case studies highlight photos, documents, and hidden details that led to new kinships and previously unknown ancestors. From a crumbling Family Bible to a fading post-mortem photograph, follow the trail of “things they left behind” to solve genealogical mysteries with clues in family sources.
• Session 2: You Can’t Take It With You: Estate Planning for Genealogists
  Who will care for your family archive when you’re gone? This session will look at creative solutions for distributing family heirlooms when settling an estate, how to be an attractive donor to institutional archives, and how to prepare a simple genealogical codicil. We’ll also discuss options for preserving your family history stories and photos in legacy online digital archives.
• Session 3: Heirloom Roadshow
  The Heirloom Roadshow is coming and you can be part of it! Did you inherit a beautiful antique table or chair from your ancestor? Do you know how to preserve the historical and cash value of your treasure? Wondering how to preserve your ancestor’s military medals? Keepsake preservation challenges submitted to The Family Curator prior to the event will be featured in this interactive presentation where you’ll learn the best way to rescue, preserve, and archive your family heirlooms.