donating family records to a repository

[tozka]

From the Society of American Archivists, Donating Your Personal or Family Records to a Repository:

For millennia, written records have provided essential clues to the past. Through letters, diaries, and unpublished writings of many types, and also through the audible, visual, and electronic records of recent times, researchers have been able to study and understand much about the history of particular families, communities, businesses, and organizations, the history of specific events and broader societal trends, and the history of the United States in general. Letters, emails, diaries, photos, and other material accumulated over the years give vital and unique information regarding your life or the history of your family. These materials obviously matter to you, and they may be important to your community, state, or nation, too. Whether or not members of your family attained a degree of fame, they have contributed to the heritage of a certain place and time. When you donate your personal or family records to a manuscript repository, your family history becomes a part of your community’s collective memory.

I know a lot of older genealogists who worry about their family's documents, since often they're the only ones who're interested in making records/organizing them/taking care of them. Donating collections to a local archive might be a good way to make sure that those records are available for future generations.