Guides
Part of How to organize a family collection: select first, then label, copy and record what exists
Condition reports for family history collections: what to photograph and write down
A condition report for family collections: what to photograph, what to write down, what to check before handling, and why a dated record tracks change over time.
What to take away
- A condition record is a dated description plus photographs. Kept systematically, it shows change over time.
- Survey before you handle. Anything actively flaking or loose can be lost in the act of examining it.
- Raking light across a surface reveals what flat light hides.
- Fixed vocabulary matters more than good writing. Use the same words for the same things every time.
What a condition report is for
The Canadian Conservation Institute's introduction to condition reporting defines it as a written or electronically filed record of each object's condition, based on close examination. With photographs and illustrations, it clearly records physical condition at that moment.
Kept systematically, such reports document change over time.
Its list of what causes those changes is the reason to bother: natural ageing of sensitive materials, accidental damage, vandalism, infestation, inappropriate display or storage conditions, improper handling, unsuitable packaging for travel, and alterations caused by restoration work.
Condition report formats
- Object arrivesdetailed baseline record
- Purpose-based reportsspecific goals
- Cursory inspectionsshorter checks
- Cumulative reportschange over time
It makes a claim worth taking seriously in a house: a systematic, up-to-date condition report system is the foundation of any collection's care. It lets whoever holds the objects track change and act on it.
For a family collection, the baseline record is the one that pays. Make it once, when the boxes arrive.
Look before you touch
The companion note on examination techniques puts a survey before the examination. Before handling, learn the object's condition by checking earlier records and taking a quick look before moving anything.
Look before you touch
Is the object too fragile to move?
examine where it is: vertical if hanging, horizontal face up if unpacked
check records, look in good light, then handle
Determine whether there is an obvious problem, such as actively flaking paint, compromised surface finishes, or loose decorative elements, any of which could be lost during handling.
It also gives the rule for fragile objects. If a piece is too fragile to move, examine it where it is: vertically if hanging, or horizontally and face up if just unpacked.
Call a conservation professional to stabilize weakened areas rather than proceeding. It warns against placing a framed work face down when either the painting or the frame shows problems.
Read that across to a family collection and the instruction is simple. Look first, in good light, before lifting anything out of a box.
The photographs to take
- One overall shot, square on, whole object in frame including edges.
- One of the reverse, which is where inscriptions, stamps and old repairs live.
- One raking shot, light from the side at a low angle, showing surface texture and damage.
- Close shots of each specific problem, with something for scale.
- One of the storage arrangement before you disturb it.
Date every set. A photograph without a date proves nothing about change.
Writing it down
Use the same words each time. Tear, crease, fold, loss, stain, foxing, cockling, flaking, adhesive residue. A fixed vocabulary makes two reports comparable, which is the whole point; inventive description does not.
Keep the record with the collection rather than only on a phone. Our guide to organizing a family collection covers where it sits in the sequence, and the notes on displaying keepsakes cover what to do with anything you decide to show.
