As Therese Quinn suggested for a history project - perhaps you could find a volunteer with enough computer skill to scan all articles and create files by date and/or name of person. The original materials are probably deteriorating at a rapid rate and will no longer be useful or worth the effort to keep. You could then toss the original books. Maybe keep one or two binders/covers if they are interesting or worth the effort. Barbra Broidy JHU MA Museums Studies program candidate -----Original Message----- From: Therese Quinn <[log in to unmask]> To: MUSEUM-L <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wed, Jul 6, 2016 7:24 pm Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Sympathy Scrap Books/Funeral Books These kinds of artifacts could form the bases of exciting (and potentially fundable) oral and community history projects (with schools, churches, non-profits and other local organizations leading the efforts) and could also support family history research, so perhaps explore these possibilities before ditching, because once gone, those opportunities close. Therese Quinn On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 4:06 PM, Ashley LaVigne <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Hello Everyone! I recently started a new position at a small county museum and our director has been in the habit of accepting just about everything that walks in the door. I am attempting to establish a more rigid collections policy and recently we received a box of donations that contained several scrapbooks that were full of sympathy cards and a few funeral ledgers. I am curious as to how other establishments handle these items. Do you keep them? Send them back? Or dispose of them? My boss is of the mind that we should keep them, but our space is limited and I feel that while they are certainly special, they simply do not belong as apart of our collection. I appreciate anyone's thoughts on this and I look forward to any responses I receive! Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer! ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). -- The task of teachers, those obscure soldiers of civilization, is to give to the people the intellectual means to revolt. [Louise Michel / 1830-1905 / Mémoires / 1886] MUSE Publication: https://musepublication.submittable.com/submit UIC United Faculty Local 6456: uicunitedfaculty.org UIC United Faculty on Facebook (Like us!): http://tinyurl.com/c26hyej Twitter: @UICUF This is an (almost) Calm Inbox: email is checked once (or so) in the AM and once (or so) in the PM. To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).