Caring for Your Family Treasures: Heritage Preservation [Paperback]

Jane S. Long (Author), Richard W. Long (Author), Inge-Lise Eckmann (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

Few of us think to preserve our family treasures until it's too late. Now, this practical guide shows just how to safeguard cherished photo albums, a fragile wedding dress, antique furniture, and numerous other precious family heirlooms for future generations.

Clearly written care instructions accompany a lively visual presentation that includes information boxes, checklists, and full-color pictures showing how to preserve leather-bound books, scrapbooks, family documents and other treasures on paper, home movies and videotape, clocks and watches, holiday ornaments, silverware, jewelry, musical instruments, military mementos, dolls, teddy bears, toy soldiers, and more. The text identifies organic and inorganic materials, items that are sensitive to humidity, and the special care required for each. Security and insurance issues, and the best materials and tools for cleaning, display, and storage, and where to find them, round out this immensely useful volume.

HERITAGE PRESERVATION, currently chaired by professional art conservator INGE-LISE ECKMANN, is a national, nonprofit organization working to preserve America's collective heritage for present and future generations. Its programs and publications gather and share information from respected preservation professionals on caring for photographs, historic documents, books, works of art, buildings, natural-science specimens, and family heirlooms.

JANE S. LONG, former coordinator of special projects for the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, is director of the National Task Force on Emergency Response and a consultant for Heritage Preservation.

RICHARD W. LONG has worked with the Brookings Institution, the Commission on the Operation of the Senate, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He now writes and consults.

160 illustrations, 140 in full color, 73/4 x 9"

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

So you've had Great-Grandma's old oil painting appraised (you're a devotee of Antiques Roadshow) and, to your amazement, it actually is worth a pretty penny. Now that you know it's valuable, you want to store it properly. But how? According to Caring for Your Family Treasures, paintings are best preserved by keeping them out of direct light in a comfortably heated room (72 degrees with 50 percent humidity is ideal) and by handling them very carefully. By following the preservation guidelines laid out in Caring for Your Family Treasures, you can keep your precious heirlooms safe for generations to come.

"We know we cannot keep everything," says Heritage Preservation President Lawrence L. Reger, "and deciding what to keep is not easy. In the end, the things we choose to hold onto become that more precious to us, and it is important that we care for them properly." Caring for Your Family Treasures includes sections on books, scrapbooks and albums, photographs, home movies (film and video), paintings, fabrics, furniture, silver, jewelry, ceramics, musical instruments, and dolls and stuffed animals. In addition, there are chapters on how to recognize agents of deterioration, how to combat them, and where to go for help (both professional and do-it-yourself).

Caring for Your Family Treasures is thorough, well written, and filled with over 150 color photographs. The authors explain in detail how to recognize organic and inorganic materials and the best way to care for them (our favorite tips: never put a rubber band around a book--it'll eat into the often fragile pages; and never use magnetized photo albums as they discolor and the photos may rip if you try to remove them). This is a book for the serious conservator who is willing to spend time and money safeguarding his or her treasures. Follow their advice and your great-grandchildren will still be enjoying that antique oil painting. --Dana Van Nest

From Library Journal

Although there are plenty of guidebooks on preserving museum-quality antiques, this book is unique in that it focuses on the care and handling of precious family heirlooms such as old silver, wedding gowns, scrapbooks, photos, books, and dolls. It was assembled under the guidance of Heritage Preservation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving cultural artifacts, sites, natural science specimens, buildings, and works of art. (It has also published the highly regarded Caring for Your Collections and, more recently, Caring for Your Historic House.) In addition to providing solid and easy-to-understand information on object preservation, the book offers advice on where to find archival supplies, genealogical information, and, if need be, a professional conservator. The many color photos show how artifactual damage is caused and in some instances how it can be treated. Highly recommended for all public libraries and for decorative arts collections everywhere. Margarete Gross, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 162 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810929090
• ISBN-13: 978-0810929098
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,220,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super How To Do It Book For Preserving Your Past !!, May 30, 2001

By 

Irvin Goodman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Caring for Your Family Treasures: Heritage Preservation (Paperback)

This is a most useful, new (year 2000) 164 page, fully illustrated guide to preserving your family treasures. All of the information in this lovely guidebook was approved by a panel of experts. Topics range from protecting photos, film and videos, movies, paintings, clothing, furniture, glassware and musical instruments, to dolls, toys, natural items and military things, and more. The chapters are very concise, yet complete. Instructions are complete, and simple to follow. It even covers security and insurance of items. The time to begin preserving the items is now, and this book really shows you how. Add it to your library.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I saved my family treasures, May 24, 2001

By 

Mark Allen Maser (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caring for Your Family Treasures: Heritage Preservation (Paperback)

This book is a treasure and a saviour. I was able to preserve my family heritage using advise and techniques I learned from this book. It describes how to salvage and protect everything from paper items to military mementos. I cannot recommend it enough for anyone who is interested in keeping their family's keepsakes in good shape. Kudos to those who put this book together. It was as if they were talking to me!

5.0 out of 5 stars Caring for your family treasure, September 13, 2010

By 

missythepug - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Caring for Your Family Treasures: Heritage Preservation (Paperback)

I received this and it met all my expectations. I am just about done with my genealogy project and this has helped me to learn how to perserve all my family photos and all the hard work I put into the project.