Genealogy Chat

I am surprised to receive four old original BMD certificates from my late First Cousin Twice Removed’s husband’s niece. She gave me a very old birth certificate (1875) of my first cousin's father that was bought in 1890, my great grand aunty’s marriage certificate in 1902, her 1878 birth certificate that was bought in 1932 and their only child's (my first cousin) 1903 birth certificate that was bought in 1976. My first cousin did not have children and she passed away in 2002. She gave the certificates to her niece. So what do I do with it? I want to care it for next 50 years. All certificates have been fold up for long time. Should I laminate it all? Or put it in plastic sheet protectors? I don’t want it to be fade away. Any suggestions how to look after the original certificates? Thanks, Steven from Australia.

Definitely DON'T laminate them, that will ruin them forever. Plastic sleeves are the best, but make sure they are acid-free as the cheaper ones can also damage old documents. The old certs are usually larger than A4 so you may need to hunt around for A3 sized sleeves.

Hi Richard, thank you for your suggestion. Okay, I will look for some acid-free plastic sleeves. The old certificates were from England so sizes are little bit big than A4. Only one (marriage in 1902) is about same size as A4. A3 is too big for these certificates. Perhaps I could cut A3 plastic sleeves off to make the sizes. Cheers, Steven (ex-Perth) from Melbourne.

Steven, look up your yellow pages for specialists in archival stationery. You'll be able to get exactly what you want for a small price. Ozi.

Steven- You might also consider entering them on the 'bmdshare' site - see my thread 'Sharing cert. info' - you don't have to part with them, just put the details in, so others can view the info, then chose whether to order their own copy from GRO if it's the right rellie. Bx

DONT LAMINATE THEM WHAT EVER YOU DO!!!!!

Thank you all for your suggestions. Ozi, good idea, I will try with Officeworks and another archival companies. Barbara, I will put the certificates’ information in the bmdshare site. It will be good to help each other. Yummy-Mummy, okay I will not laminate it.