Genealogy Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Boards

Quick Search

Single word search

Tools

Findmypast DNA Banner

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Delicate birth certificate preservation

Login to Add Reply Watch This
ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

MarkMorgan

MarkMorgan Report 3 Aug 2010 16:44

Yay! Just had a call from my mother-in-law who says she has come across some birth and marriage certificates from her side of the family all the way back to 1870s.

Result! I'll cart my laptop and scanner around there in the next couple of days to get copies.

Though she does say that one of them is in a very delicate state. Does anyone know of a good way to preserve this document? I haven't seen it yet so I'm not sure of the extent of the 'delicacy'.

Thanks,
Mark.

Shirley~I,m getting the hang of it

Shirley~I,m getting the hang of it Report 3 Aug 2010 16:49

Lucky you . I only have my original birth cert . Mum gave each of us our certs & baptism card when we married which was lovely. Mine is getting on a bit too but mum always rolled them so its not creased.

Researching:
Surname Fahse. Germany. Essex .South East London My avatar is one of our wedding photos of 1957

SlingerWood

SlingerWood Report 3 Aug 2010 17:05

A company called ‘Arrowfile” produced Ancestor folders which use non corrosive film folders. I have never tried them, haven’t anything to preserve, lucky you.

I’m sure other photographic stores will do the same

http://www.arrowfile.com/

Researching:
Wood: Turner: Isenman.

MarkMorgan

MarkMorgan Report 4 Aug 2010 12:26

Thanks for those links I'll take a look.

Mark.

MarkMorgan

MarkMorgan Report 6 Aug 2010 13:39

Scanned them last night. They turned out to be my mother-in-law's maternal grand-parent's marriage and birth certificates. The marriage and grand-mother's birth cert. were in very good condition and on good quality certificate paper as usual.

But the grand-father's birth cert was the one in a state. Basically it was in pieces and was on 'normal' paper and not the same shape and size as the old long certs. It was a special sort of certificate 'Issued for the purposes of the elementary education act, 1876' or 'Employment in Labour of a Child'. The reverse of the certificate is a form that was filled in the day after his tenth birthday requesting the certificate which I assume was handed in and a week later the certificate entry has been transcribed on the other side and returned to them. I'm guessing this was for work rather than education as he is a 'cotton operative' on the next census.

I laid it all out on the scanner (both sides), scanned it in multiple parts (particularly as it is longer than A4 - foolscap I think) and stitched the results together in Paint Shop Pro. And a couple of tweaks with the contrast to get the faded text looking good again.

The certificate is currently in an A4 clear-pocket whilst I figure out what to do next. Archival quality sticking tape - the sort librarians use - comes to mind.

Mark.