Annie has asked me a question that should interest all: 

To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 8:38 AM
Subject: documentation and proof ??


Good Friday morning, ....
I have questions about documentation. Hopefully, you will be willing to offer your opinion and or suggestions. 

Two 4 drawer metal file cabinets and many cardboard files boxes take up a lot of space in my computer room.... Some date back to the 1900s. ....Many are first hand accounts of events; births, marriages, family pass-along tales, etc. Several crumbling pages torn from old bibles will be scanned before they turn to dust....

I would like to scan all to DVD but wonder if a computer generated copy of letter would be acceptable as documentation?  

Thank you,
Annie


Hi, Annie.  A computer copy is and will be viewed as is any other "copy", paper or electronic.  Everybody knows that ALL copies are susceptible of alteration by the dishonest and unscrupulous, and so such copies are and will be looked at cautiously for years in the future.

I preserve my materials as best I can with archival folders, etc., copy the same to discs, just as you propose to do, and have tried to keep all of those same "papers" that will or may be viewed by strangers - your descendants - as significant, true and reliable proof of the content. 

All the rest of my paper records I throw away or keep in a file cabinet in the garage in a dry place, well knowing that those will decay and be gone one day soon because of the conditions out there.  In the interest of space, you are almost required to sacrifice some of such writings, so let it be the least valuable.

There is a LARGER problem looming for us all; the technology that provides your electronic copies is FAR from perfect and even further from being permanent.  My son - a graduate computer engineer - feels that the plastic discs upon which we save materials - CDs or otherwise - likely will become ever more decayed and may well not last even 35-40 years, especially if stored in other than optimum conditions.  

So, a HUGE dilemma; copy the old, then destroy those, hoping someone will make re-copies of your DVD, CD, etc., materials on new discs every 15 years or so, or store as best you can the important paper records and the discs both.  You take your choice and hope the consequences are acceptable and of some use to the many generations that are sure to come after you.  Hope this helps.  Paul       


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