Document Salvage

Sadly, as part of everyday life, important personal segments of our written and pictorial heritage are being continually damaged or destroyed. These events sometimes culminate in the genealogical and historical nightmare stories heard from time to time, such as the complete archival contents of an old solicitor's office being thrown into a builder's skip.

Some of our Inventories have been generously donated, thus ensuring their survival for posterity. For example, one item is a large and illuminated 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. Another example consists of a useful collection of late 19th century family photographs, thought to be of Scottish origin. Although sadly most of the people will never be identified, the social history they contain is invaluable.

If you wish to donate any item for future preservation, perhaps your first call should be to your local library, archive centre or genealogy society. However, we actively accept any donation suitable for inclusion in our main archive. As a general rule, all material should be dated no later than about 1950. However, no donations will be rejected on the grounds of being too modern. It is perhaps worth realising that today's documents are part of tomorrow's history!

Any donation will be treated with care and respect and subsequently made available for public scrutiny, if thought appropriate. Your personal details will be treated in the strictest confidence, and will not be stored in any electronic or other retrieval system.

If you have any items you would like to donate, please note the following important points.

Should you decide to donate anything to our archive, you will still retain any copyright on individual items, unless you specifically waive any rights you have in favour of the owners of the archive as published on this website. It will be also be necessary for you to sign a dated form or letter, itemising what you have donated. Do not worry about doing this yourself as we will be quite happy to create an itemised list for you to sign. Upon reaching a mutual agreement about what you are donating, we will be happy to pay the necessary packaging and postage costs should you require this.

Document Examples

Ledger - James Wingate's Trust Estate, Glasgow, 1867-1906	Probate (or) Proof of Will, County Lincoln,        England, 1805	Private letter from Courthill near Hawick, Scotland, 1812	Rope Merchant's Invoice, Greenock, Scotland, 1891	World War 1 Roll of Honour - Boharm Parish, Morayshire, Scotland, 1915

Date last modified: Mon 19 May 08