An Awo initiative
Family Archives
Photographs, letters, diaries, papers and recordings can hold a family’s history. Family Archives helps people consider how to care for these materials and the stories connected to them.
Start with what you have.
A collection may be a few photographs, boxes of papers or recordings kept over many years. It may be well organised, or you may still be discovering what it contains.
You do not need a complete catalogue to contact us.
Care for the records and their meaning.
Knowing who appears in a photograph, who wrote a letter or whose voice is on a recording can be as important as preserving the item itself.
We encourage families to record the names, dates, places and accounts they know, including where information is uncertain.
How Awo can help
Plan the next steps for a family collection.
Understand the collection
Review the types of materials, their condition and the priorities for care.
Organise and document
Identify materials and record the family knowledge that helps explain them.
Plan continuing care
Consider suitable storage, digitisation and the care of digital copies.
If you would like to commission work on a family collection, our commercial services page explains the paid services available.
View commercial services