In my last post, I illustrated just a few of the problems we face when trying to preserve digital records over time.  As promised, I’m back to provide a few pointers on what you, as a records creator, can do to preserve your files for yourself, your children, your grandchildren and beyond.

Choose the right equipment

Keeping accessible records starts from the first day you turn on your new computer.  The operating system and software you choose for creating documents will have an impact on how easy it will be to view those files five years later.  You are certainly familiar with the .doc (Word) and .wpd (WordPerfect) file types as perhaps the most common word processing formats.  Because of their popularity, your chances are good that Microsoft and Corel will try to find ways to allow you to read these files in the future – but your fate rests in their hands.  Saving your files as OpenDocument text (.odf) can create an extra level of certainty, as this is a word processing format developed and supported as a world standard.  Standard formats for other types of files include .tif (digital images – scans or other post-photographic images), .dng (photographs), .wav (sound files) and .m2v (video).  If your video camera or recorder allows you to save in these formats, you will have fewer worries in the long run.

Keep control of your files

You can save yourself a lot of headaches down the road by naming your files in a reliable and descriptive manner, and sorting them into appropriate folders.  Did you take 100 photos of family at your niece’s birthday party?  Name them “Nieces_Birthday-2012” (the computer will number them individually) and place them all in a similarly named folder.  Better still (and if you have the time), name the people in the photos in the file name, e.g. “Aunt_Joan_and_Uncle_Dan.jpg,” stored in the “Nieces_Birthday” folder.  Organizing your Word documents and e-mail in a similar way (by project, correspondent, or however else) will also help you keep track of everything you create or receive.  And don’t forget to empty your trash – this will keep your computer clutter free for only your important documents!

Make copies and store them separately

Keeping two or three copies on separate media helps hedge your bets against one CD deteriorating, or a USB key getting accidentally erased.  Most modern computers make it easy to produce backups just by plugging in an external hard drive. Take advantage of this feature, but feel free to burn important photos and documents to CDs as well.  To ensure more complete security, store your backup drive at work or another family members’ house (maybe you can do a backup swap) – this will ensure that should anything happen (fire, flood, etc.), your computer will have a clone safely stored elsewhere.  You can even take advantage of online network storage, like the iCloud, to back up important files.

Revisit your old files

This is your chance to reminisce!  As you take a walk down memory lane, you’re not only remembering past events, you’re also taking note of whether the path is in need of repair. Does your CD give you an error message when you try to click on a jpeg?  You can resort to finding a copy of the image from one of your other backups.  If this is one time you did not get the chance to make a backup, find an expert in data recovery.  Corrupted files may not always be salvageable, but if it’s important, it may be worth a try.  As file formats age, some software may even have difficulty finding a way to open the files.  It’s at this point you can also take stock of any other obsolete file formats in your personal archives.  These files can be migrated (opened and resaved) into a modern file format for easier access, but this process does require some additional level of skill and care to ensure you are not losing vital information from the original document (nonetheless, always hold on to the original format as well – just in case).

What I’ve given you here are just a few tips to think about – this is by no means an exhaustive list of what you can do.  Creating records in a digital world takes no effort at all, but keeping them requires a little work from time to time.  You can read further details on what you can do in the InterPARES document Making and Maintaining Digital Materials: Guidelines for Individuals.  I am happy to answer your questions, too – just add it to the comments below!

Happy Robbie Burns Day! We are fortunate to have in our collection the records from the Burns Literary Society (Toronto).  The records, mostly consisting of minute and account books, date from 1898-1932, and were donated to us in 1979 by the last president of the Society – Duncan McCowan.

The point of the Burns Literary Society was to celebrate the life and work of Robert Burns, and the meetings involved reciting his poetry and singing his songs. Every year, the Society held a Robbie Burns Dinner on his birthday.  As seen in the above meeting minutes from January 25 1926, there was always a haggis presented at the dinner with “Address to a Haggis” recited.

The Burns Literary Society (later renamed the Burns Club in 1947) ceased to exist in the 1960s due to a lack of new members.

Congratulations to Cataraqui Cemetery for being designated as a National Historic Site of Canada yesterday.  It truly is a national treasure, and we are proud to be the repository for their historic records. Measuring in at 7.8 metres of records, the Cataraqui Cemetery Company fonds is a gem in itself.  Dating back to 1853, the records include many interesting items such as a register of lot owners (1856-1897) and various maps of the cemetery.

What would you do if you were told that all of your family photo albums would simply disappear in the next five years? Would you take action to ensure the contents would live on in some form, by copying the photos, reprinting them or storing them in a secure location? Or would you simply let it happen? Chances are, these records mean something to you. The photos don’t just sit in a box; they are organized and kept by you or someone you know, and recall some special memory.

Unfortunately, the rapid loss of our own history is precisely the dilemma we all face today. Digital photography is the norm, but few people actually take the appropriate precautions or considerations with their jpegs to ensure they can still be viewed five years from now. And it’s not as if the colours simply fade – a loss of a few bits – the 0s and 1s that make up digital files – can destroy the entire image forever.

Most people don’t give it a second thought. Nowadays we create almost everything on computers, smartphones and other technology. It is a “born digital” world, and I am now writing this article in a Word document, to be copied and pasted into this blog (no trees were harmed in the creation of this post).

A year ago, I completed a six-month sabbatical studying just this dilemma – how do we, as archivists, preserve the digital memory of our institution and our private donors? On the surface, the question is quite straightforward. Just as people write and type to paper, photograph to film then print to paper, and record sound to tape, they now do all of this to digital media (hard disk, flash memory, etc.).

But the move from a tangible to an intangible storage medium is fraught with many problems in the long term. Do you have the disk drives to read 5¼” floppy disks? Zip disks? Even 3½” floppies are seldom used anymore. On the software side, most of the popular word processors can read documents that were created by previous versions of the software, but not without the loss of some vital information. And to top it all off, we are generating more records each and every day than we ever have in human history.

The Archives are the end of the road for records of lasting value and historical significance. Once they have outlived their usefulness to their creators, Archives are tasked with maintaining these records forever. It is this concept that escapes most – this is not five years (the life cycle of most new technology), twenty-five years (the point at which most people forget what the old technology was like) – this is multiple lifetimes, extended for centuries. We have been the repositories of human history since the beginning of the written word, and now we are the keepers of future memory. What we preserve now will be seen and used by our progeny to understand and interpret our lifetime. What we lose will form wide gaps in this understanding.

There is no doubt that we have lost some history by virtue of technology progressing at a faster rate than our ability to preserve the records created. This does not mean that all is lost, though. Even paper can crumble into many pieces, never to be seen again – it happens all the time! Flood, fire, pests and so much more are the enemies of the historic record. Only now in the digital age, we face new enemies in the guise of rapid progress and obsolescence. Loss of records through negligence, benign neglect and ignorance of their importance is serious, and serves to undermine most Archives’ preservation efforts. The truth is, Archives can only preserve what records they receive.

Next time, I’ll tell you what you, as a records creator, can do to preserve your digital records.

Queen’s Archives was featured on CBC’s Ideas program regarding an item in our holdings – George MacMartin’s diary (1905). George MacMartin was the Treaty Commissioner for Ontario and part of the team who met with First Nations leaders, resulting in James Bay Treaty Nine. This diary was thought to have been “lost”, but in reality has been in our holdings for over thirty years (Location #2999). MacMartin’s diary provides another perspective on the James Bay Treaty Nine besides those found in the government records.

Learn more about George MacMartin’s diary and James Bay Treaty Nine by listening to the CBC’s Ideas program “George MacMartin’s Big Canoe Trip” http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2011/12/19/george-macmartins-big-canoe-trip/

This was found in a scrapbook in the Comer fonds 2304.1 box2. Judging by the cards in the scrapbook surrounding it, we presume this Christmas card is circa 1880.

Last year we acquired the journal of the Kingston Driving Club, 1849-1851. Purchased from a collector in England, the leather-bound journal was in fairly good shape overall, however there were some small tears and binding issues that needed attention from our conservator. Now, fresh from the conservator’s hands, in a custom-made enclosure, the journal is available for perusal in the Reading Room. The description of this lovely item is below, plus a couple of digital images to pique your interest.

Item description:Item is a detailed book of the proceedings of the Kingston Driving Club from 26 December 1949 to 7 February 1851. The proceedings were predominantly written in prose, though occasionally in verse, by the Vice-Presidents of the Club; the role of Vice-President rotated at each meeting. The subject matter of the minutes is heavily weighted towards the social aspects of the meetings and often touches upon the route travelled during the outing, the food and drink served, the abilities of specific drivers and the qualities of various horses, harnesses and sleighs.

The authors of the entries were: Lt. Col. Horn, XX Regiment (also known as the 20th East Devon Regiment of Foot); Major Hugh D. Crofton, XX Regiment; Baron de Longueuil; Major Forbes; Captain Sharpe, XX Regiment; Lt. Morrison, Royal Engineers; Dr. Horatio Yates; Major Gen. Hon. C. Gore; J.A. Corbett, Sheriff; Astley P. Cooper; John B. Forsyth; Lt. Henry P. J. Miller, Royal Artillery.; Lt. J. Gore, ADC; Mr. Bowen; Dr. Combe, Royal Artillery; and Lt. W. Markham.

Additional members of the club are identified as: Lt. John Yerbury Moggridge, Royal Engineers, Treasurer; Hon. Peter Boyle de Blaquiere; Captain Cane, XX regiment; Lt. Miller, Royal Artillery; Lt. Hill, Royal Artillery; Lt. Evans, Royal Artillery; Lt. E. F. Anstey, XX regiment; Lt. M. T. Thomson, XX Regiment; Lt. Lutyens, XX Regiment; Captain Sharpe, XX Regiment; Capt. McCausland, Royal Engineers; Lt. Adair, XX Regiment; Lt. Mansfield Turner, XX Regiment; Lt. McNeil, XX regiment; Lt. Col. Young, A.A. General; Dr. Cole, XX Regiment; Lt. Sedley, Royal Engineers; Lt. Seale, Royal Artillery; Dr. Robeson; Mr. Muttlebury; Mr. Kirkpatrick, Mr. McLean; Lt. Poley, XX Regiment; Lt. Davis, Royal Navy; Mr. Hinds; Mr. Bowen; Mr. Stevens, XX Regiment; Mr. Turner, XX Regiment; Major Symons, Royal Artillery; Baron de Rottenburg, A.A. General; Captain South, XX Regiment, Mr. H. James, XX Regiment; and Lt. Col. Dalton, Royal Artillery.

Audio and video recordings for Quiet Limit of the World, 1994 (Wayne Grady fonds SR1138 and MI1159)

In 1994, Wayne Grady travelled alongside a team of scientists on a research trip to the North Pole. They were conducting an investigation of the effects of global warming. Wayne’s chronicles of this expedition included his own journals, extensive research and interviews with the scientists and crew of their ship, the icebreaker “Louis S. St. Laurent,” all of which would go on to form The Quiet Limit of the World: A Journey to the North Pole to Investigate Global Warming.

Correspondence - Gordon WWII (Phyllis), 1941-1955 (Merilyn Simonds fonds 5064-1-10)

Clippings-Religious (Phyllis), 1921-1961 (Merilyn Simonds fonds 5064-1-5)

With the release of The Convict Lover, published by Macfarlane, Walter & Ross in 1996,  Merilyn Simonds became nationally known as a literary writer. The Convict Lover was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction and was chosen as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 1996 by the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire Magazine, Elm Street Magazine and Maclean’s. Merilyn Simonds donated the correspondence between Phyllis Halliday and Joseph David Cleroux and one manuscript copy of her book in progress to Queen’s University Archives in September 1994. The remainder of the Convict Lover material came in the accrual of 2007. The Phyllis Halliday material was located for many years in the attic of the Phyllis Halliday’s, then Merilyn Simonds’, house. Wrapped in bundles, tied together with ribbon and placed in numerous containers, this material remained undisturbed until discovered by Ms. Simonds in 1987.

Short story notes (Diane Schoemperlen fonds, 1162.1-5-19)

Charts and notes for novel (Diane Schoemperlen fonds, 1162.1 F3 B3.8)

Diane Schoemperlen’s papers consist of textual and multiple media records reflecting her literary activity over a 30 year career in writing, teaching and editing. Research notes, drafts, manuscripts and published copies of poetry, book reviews, short stories and larger literary works are all in evidence in her archival material.

The Frozen River/When the River Froze/The Frozen Thames, 2006 (Helen Humphreys fonds, 2207-1-16)

In 2007, Helen Humphreys published The Frozen Thames, a book of creative non-fiction. It went on to become a national best-seller and one of the Globe and Mail’s Top 100 books of 2007. As with many of Humphreys works, the manuscript begins with a small black book where notes and jottings start to come together to form the story. Humphreys newest release is The Reinvention of Love.