People who know about antiques..question

steveinaz

Bev has a cookbook, all hand written, that has recipes from both her Great Grandmother, and grandmother. It's probably near a hundred years old. My question is, how should we store this? Should I put it in a ziplock bag or something? We live in a very dry environment...

dkg999

The first thing I would do is scan in the pages and save them to digital images so you can use the recipies. If you have an Archivers store near you they will be able to assist you with storage options to limit damage. A local historical society might also be able to recommend someone knowledgeable to talk to.

AudioGenics

talking to a Librarian certified or degreed
maybe large college library ...

ryanjoachim

dkg999 wrote: »

The first thing I would do is scan in the pages and save them to digital images so you can use the recipies. If you have an Archivers store near you they will be able to assist you with storage options to limit damage. A local historical society might also be able to recommend someone knowledgeable to talk to.

Best advice you can get right there.

Call your local library, they'll be able to point you in the right direction for free.

steveinaz

It's actually a hard-bound book (smallish in size), with blank pages that the recipes are written on. It would be difficult to flatten the book enough to scan the pages. I could probably photograph the pages with my digital camera...

AudioGenics

well I was curious
went to the Arizona State University library website
and I'm thinking their historical society would be a resource

http://lib.asu.edu/help

http://lib.asu.edu/librarians

http://ahfweb.org/

photographic services

http://ahfweb.org/services.html

always had an interest in history and family heirlooms.....

ryanjoachim

steveinaz wrote: »

It's actually a hard-bound book (smallish in size), with blank pages that the recipes are written on. It would be difficult to flatten the book enough to scan the pages. I could probably photograph the pages with my digital camera...

I would definitely take it to your local library or historical society then. They have a lot of experience in how to handle books like that, especially when it comes to bringing those old books into the digital age.

steveinaz

Thanks fellas, appreciate the effort! I will look into this.

stuwee

Steve, call the U of A historical society, they'll fix ya right up. It'd be real nice if you could post some of granmas favs for us

TECHNOKID

dkg999 wrote: »

The first thing I would do is scan in the pages and save them to digital images so you can use the recipies. If you have an Archivers store near you they will be able to assist you with storage options to limit damage. A local historical society might also be able to recommend someone knowledgeable to talk to.

Good advices from dk999 since paper is very fragile and if you want to give the book to future generations, it can not be used furthermore and properly protected.

steveinaz wrote: »

It's actually a hard-bound book (smallish in size), with blank pages that the recipes are written on. It would be difficult to flatten the book enough to scan the pages. I could probably photograph the pages with my digital camera...

Taking pictures with your digital camera is definitley a great idea, you can turn the picture as pdf afterward for file storage and provide your wife with hard copies if need be.

renowilliams

I would imagine a case could me made with uv glass that has a way to control humidity but that would be very costly. I have a complete newspaper from October,1864. What I did was have it framed with a low acid backing under uv protective glass.