For Genealogical purposes, an Original Document is often thought of as one of those records that you must send away in order to get a copy,  like a Birth Certificate, Marriage License or Death Certificate. Indeed it is, because in the case of those documents, an original document is the actual document issued by a government authority, agent or office.

However, your collection may have other original documents in it that you simply don’t recognize as such. Letters, for instance, can be deemed as original documents, especially if they have information about any of your family members or they are from a family member. Emails that discuss family can be considered original documents: print them on acid-free paper. Certified copies of court records, like divorce decrees or law suits, are definitely original documents, as far as genealogy is concerned. Land records fall into the same category, and the list goes on.

Basically, any document or record that you must order from a government agency, whether local, national or between; any document that comes to you certified or notorized; or, any letter (email) you receive that is from or refers to family is an original document. Even personal papers, biographies, autobiographies, diaries, journals and newspaper clippings can be considered original documents.

The importance of original documents can never be stressed enough. Original documents and certified copies of documents are like gold. Treat them as such.

*** NEVER leave originals lying around or on your desk!
*** NEVER write on an original document.
*** DO NOT file original documents with your family files!
*** NEVER fold, staple or mutilate an original document.
*** DO NOT store newspaper with precious original documents, like Birth certificates, family papers, Marriage Licences and Death Certificates.
*** NEVER store original documents in a basement or an attic.
*** DO NOT use original documents for anything, except to make working copies.

Time, light, heat, air and a variety of other elements are terrible enemies to every original document that you possess: those elements WILL definitely take their tolls on your gold, contributing to their deterioration. So, if you hope to pass your original documents on to any of your children or intend to keep them for an extended period, there are certain steps you’ll want to take to guarantee their preservation. Quite frankly, the longer you intend for your treasured original documents and photographs to last, the better care you need to take of them — starting right NOW!

Below is a list of things we suggest you do for preserving your family treasures so you can pass them down to your children or future generations in their best shape possible.

• As soon as you receive a letter, document or record, make one or two copies of it. We suggest acid-free papers even for making copies. The copies are your insurance and become your working copies.
  • If you have a scanner, you may also want to consider making a scanned copy of the document. Doing this allows you to archive all of your scans on a CD or DVD, in Google Documents, in one of the many Web photo album sites – Flicker,  Picasa Web Album or PhotoBucket — or at an online storage server, where you can store most any kind of file. (There are many servers of this type spread across the Internet that offer storage space for little to nothing in cost.)
• Place the original document between acid-free papers inside an acid-free folder. When doing this, always be certain to insert an acid-free page between each of your documents to prevent acid migration from one document to another.
  • Alternatively, you can place documents in archival-safe plastic sleeves (made with polyester, polypropylene or polyethylene) and then store them in an album or binder. PLEASE, do not use sleeves or binders constructed with PVC (polyvinylchloride), which are commonly “store-bought,” because they emit hydrochloric acid that can absolutely destroy “archived documents” over time. You can find archival products at several office and photographic supply companies. Many craft supply companies that cater to scrapbookers, also carry acid free papers, sleeves and binders.
• When the original is in a good storage device (such as the two mentioned above), put the file, folder, album or binder in a safe place — a place where it cannot be altered, damaged or lost. Putting original documents in a safe deposit box is the preferred place for them. However, a flame-resistant strong box is almost as secure.
• If you use a safe deposit box, the conditions should be almost perfect; but if you use a strong box, you need to place it where it is not too close to a heat source (heat register, furnace, fireplace or stove), where the air around it is dry and cool. Ideal conditions are between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, moisture and light free.

Please note that newspaper should be treated slightly different than regular paper documents. Newspapers are made with highly acidic paper, and they tend to deteriorate very quickly. Always photocopy any information you want to keep from a newspaper or scan it and then print it onto acid-free paper. You can then store the original paper in an acid-free box, or mount clippings in an archival scrapbook. Clippings could also be stored in acid-free file folders, interleaved with acid-free paper. If you want to frame the clipping, you should frame the acid-free copy rather than the original clipping.

To sum it all up…

The idea is to keep your paper documents in an acid-free, humidity-controlled environment. Regardless of how you choose to store your documents, I reiterate, NEVER STORE THEM IN AN ATTIC OR BASEMENT. The extreme temperature and humidity variations in those areas cause rapid deterioration. Store your items in a room with a stable temperature and humidity — one that is comfortable or perhaps a bit cool to you.