We have been scanning a lot of old family and business documents this past year. Old documents come in with some interesting binding techniques. I wonder when the paper clip was invented because these old papers that come in use a variety of methods to keep them together. Many people used straight pins, they actually rust over time so I do not replace them on the documents. Some recent files I scanned had a clever ‘cuff link’ type of thing that a military or family member used to attach confidencial papers into the file folders in a secure way. It was easy to remove the papers but too risky to secure the papers back with this method. I’m yet to see paper sewn together. We did have some home movies awhile ago where the family stitched the reels together instead of using splicing tape.
When scanning old letters it amazes me how long they are. I think the average old letter is 4 pages long. People wrote on all sides of letters and cards. Perhaps this is because long distance phone calls were so expensive. If you were going to buy a stamp, you may as well write a long letter. The interesting thing about telegrams I have noticed is that they are the same length as a text message. Telegrams were expensive and only used for brief messages. Texting, well, they are short but it would be interesting to know what the average number of Text messages people send in a day.
If you have old documents that you want to preserve we can scan them for you. Our top of the line scanners can convert your documents into PDF files or jpg files or both. Then you can preserve them for next generations, print them into books or read them without worrying about handling them.
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