Best Practices for Storing Heirlooms and Family Keepsakes

Some of the most important things we often want to put into storage are family heirlooms and keepsakes. These can be anything from sentimental items like scrapbooks or letters to valuable items like jewelry or antiques. In today’s blog we will be looking at the best practices for storing heirlooms and family keepsakes.

General Best Practices for Storage

Make sure that all items have been cleaned and thoroughly dried before you store them. Some objects may have special requirements for cleaning them, therefore it is often best to have them professionally cleaned before putting them into storage. These can include things like jewelry, wedding dresses and musical instruments. You should also be sure to store everything you can in acid free, archival quality storage containers. This is important as it will keep the storage materials from damaging the important items. Lastly, a climate-controlled storage unit is one of the best possible places to store your family heirlooms and keepsakes. With a storage unit you won’t need to worry about excess moisture, heat or other environmental factors putting your important items at risk.

Photographs

Some of the most treasured family heirlooms are old scrapbooks and photo albums, unfortunately these can also be some of the most fragile heirlooms. Many of them use non-archival commercial adhesives and other non-archival materials that won’t stand the test of time. The best way to store these is by using acid free archival bags and acid free boxes, you may also want to consider using acid free tissue or paper between the pages to help with the preservation. You should also be sure not to handle photographs with your bare hands, instead use a pair of clean white cotton gloves, this will prevent oil from your hands damaging your photographs. Lastly do not use paperclips, rubber bands or tape to organize your photographs, these can cause damage to them in the long term.

Paper

Heirlooms made of paper are extremely vulnerable and can be at risk from exposure to light, heat and moisture. One of the best ways to store paper heirlooms such as diplomas or letters is by using acid-free page protectors and acid free binders. This will both keep the paper safe and allow you to both keep your paper heirlooms protected and allow you to access them without needing special precautions.

China and Glassware

When storing china or glassware be sure to wrap each piece individually in bubble wrap and use as many individual boxes as possible so the weight of the items doesn’t become cumbersome. You should also make sure you aren’t storing anything on top of these boxes as that can risk crushing them and threaten damage to your stored china and glassware.

Jewelry

Keep any metallic items separate from other keepsakes like paper or fabric as they can stain or cause damage. You should also be sure to store each piece of jewelry separately, like in individual boxes or a storage case with multiple compartments, this will prevent harder jewelry from damaging softer jewelry. Wrap silver in silver cloth bags, as this will help prevent tarnishing.

We hope that we have been able to provide some useful advice on how to best store your important family heirlooms and keepsakes. If you have any questions about storage solutions, please feel free to contact us.

Yaletown Mini Storage offers brightly lit, clean, affordable storage units in downtown Vancouver. Most units have 8-foot ceilings, and there are no access fees or limitations.

If you have any questions about this article or our downtown Vancouver storage units, contact us at (604) 603-5885.