Natal Midlands Chairman's Chat

2012/02

Our Annual General Meeting in February resulted in all committee members from last year being re-elected with an additional 2 committee members. They being Joan Maher and Clive Bartells.

We were very pleased and proud that Penelope Forrest received the GSSA award for Publication of the Year. Although Penelope lives in Cape Town she elected to be a member of our branch. Her book “A Memoir in Letters” tackles her family tree from a different standpoint. Although our library copy is on loan to the judges we hope to have a copy back on the shelves shortly.

In 2009 Eckhardt Von Fintel received the GSSA Award for Excellence for his continued contribution to the genealogical community. Unfortunately Hendrik Louw never had an opportunity to present the certificate and so now at the end of his term of office sent it to me and I presented it to Eckhardt at the April meeting.

Last year Linda Ireland gave us a talk on preserving our old and genealogically valuable documents. Only Museums and Archives can afford to install climatically controlled storage areas and we at home have to use practical economical methods. For many years we have advocated the use of “Jiffy” Cooking bags as they are chemically friendly. I have searched all local supermarkets and the Internet to discover they appear to be off the market in South Africa. “Jiffy” seem to have changed their product range. The alternative seems to be a product sold at CNA, and probably other stationers, called “Donau Protector Sheets”. These are A4 filing pockets with binding holes. They are made from Polypropylene and the labels claims they will not affect documents. I notice too that a product called “Flip File” is also made from polypropylene. We need someone with chemical knowledge to advise us here. The American Archivists write of PET (Mylar®) Plastic envelopes for archival purposes. We need to find where we can get small quantities. Philatelists buy stamp albums made from this material. The other alternative is to make envelopes from acid-free copy paper. We need to remember that paper made many years ago is probably not acid free and will have trace elements of all sorts of chemicals and even metal. It is the tiny specs of metal that induce brown spots and you have to use an acid free barrier sheet between documents to prevent ‘offset'. Reading up on the subject on the Internet, American archivists say that one should rather use Alkaline buffered paper and replace it periodically. The next question to any chemically minded member is; where do we get this type of paper in small quantities? Mould is the other problem and documents need to be kept away from damp cupboards. Damp cupboards also induce fungus on photographic slides and light cases of this can be cleaned with ‘Spirits of Chloroform'. Really old books should be contained in acid free boxes. I am experimenting with a corrugated plastic material which can be folded and glued. I often wonder whether those brown cardboard boxes the archives use are chemically inert. Books kept in a book-case should be in slip covers to prevent dust and goggas damaging the top edge.

Margaret Lake has kindly donated a few books to our library. One is an extremely useful book about the Scott family and the origins of Scottsville. Val and Richard Spearman have also donated books.

A couple of new members have asked about membership options. Traditionally, the spouse of a member is considered part of the Society family and is welcome to attend all functions without payment of an additional subscription. The Clubhouse and the Library is in the name of The Natal Inland Family History Society. You may either subscribe to The Natal Inland Family History Society (NIFHS) or the Genealogical Society (which your committee manages in tandem or as the GSSA prefer ;'Under Curatorship') . Or if you want the best of both worlds, subscribe to both. Our Midlands branch gets R40 back from the subs paid to GSSA for each GSSA member. We are prepared to refund that R40 to those members who have dual membership.

Another frequently asked question is what is eGGSA. That is an electronic branch of the Genealogical Society of South Africa. No fixed abode and in fact their committee is scattered throughout the world. A very effective branch with members involved in transcription projects.

Pam Barnes has reached the age when she gets free membership to GSSA in recognition for her continued membership. Pam has been involved for over 20 years and at one time was the editor of the newsletter. She has decided to give up commissioned research to concentrate on getting her own family records up to date. Pam has very kindly donated her ‘completed research files' to our library. I will produce an index so that members can see if there are any names that interest them.

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