DOCUMENT RESCUE SERVICE

An Appeal

Since its inception, one of the editors' main aims has been to save collections of related documents, however small, from being commercially split up, thereby permitting their content to survive as a cohesive unit for future research purposes.

Some of the Inventories in the possession of Scottish Family Heritage have been generously donated to the editors for genealogical and historical research purposes, as well as ensuring their survival for posterity. One donation is a small but extremely useful collection of 17th-18th century parchment documents relating to property in the area of Kirk Yetholm, Roxburghshire. Another is a large certificate on card, presented  to Mrs. Anne Gemmell at a public meeting held in the Town Hall of Musselburgh, on 4th September, 1902, in testimony of her husband's services to the parish of Inveresk. A further addition is an assortment of late 19th century family photographs, presumably of Scottish origin. Although unfortunately most of the people will remain permanently unidentifiable, the social history they contain, including commercial information relating to the individual photographers, is invaluable.

Sadly, as part of every-day life, important personal segments of our written and pictorial heritage are being damaged or destroyed. These include the genealogical and historical nightmare stories that  thankfully, are heard about only occasionally. An account of one such event that has circulated in Edinburgh for sometime, concerns the destruction of an archive of documents dating back hundreds of years, which was deliberately put to the torch on a bonfire. Another reputedly true and incredulous story concerns an old solicitor's office in the north of Scotland that was being cleared out by tradesmen. It seems they resorted to throwing out most of the documents from clients' tin boxes, then went on to sell these containers because they had apparently a greater commercial value than the contents. Thankfully, rescue stories also exist. One satisfying account heard a few years ago, concerns a collection of old documents that were discovered mouldering away on the damp basement floor of an old building by a person who realised their true historical significance. They were of no interest to the owner, but as a result of enquiries, ended up being salvaged for future study.

Should you wish to donate any document or associated material for preservation and research purposes, you should of course, in the first instance, support the appropriate libraries, archive centres, or similar bodies such as your local genealogical society. However, if none of these are suitable, for what ever reason, Scottish Family Heritage will gladly accept any of the following items for inclusion in its main archive. As a general rule, all material should be dated no later that about 1950. However, no donations will be rejected on the grounds of being too modern. Today's documents are tomorrow's history!

Items of interest include legal, commercial, or personal documents, letters and postcards, pre 1900 newspapers, certificates, diaries, theatre programmes, account ledgers, photographs, scrap-books, or other assorted ephemera, and generally anything that can be used to further the interests of family or local history research throughout the world. Quantity is irrelevant. Whether it is one envelope with just a name and address on it, or a complete archive, all material is considered of historic value.

Anything you donate will be treated with all the care and respect that our dedicated personnel and facilities are capable of. Your personal details will be treated in the strictest confidence, and will NOT appear, or be stored in any electronic or other retrieval system, other than when writing, or in any other way communicating with you, in connection with your donation. We may wish to publish an acknowledgement of your gift. However, this would occur only with your knowledge and permission.

Once in our possession the contents of your donation will immediately be given an 'Inventory' number. You will then receive a letter of acknowledgement that may include a voucher for use in purchasing any of the services offered by Scottish Family Heritage. Then every document will undergo an initial survey to determine its overall condition, and whether or not repairs are necessary. At a later stage, each item will be described and, where appropriate, transcribed for easier reading. Subsequently, the contents will be comprehensively indexed, and after suitable screening, included in the source database, with the intention of future publication.   

NOTES

Please send your donations to:-