Becoming a Steward of Your Family Story
By Client Executive Marcia Spicer How one person can help transform scattered family materials into a lasting legacy Every family has someone who eventually notices the boxes. Maybe they are tucked into a basement corner, stacked in a closet, or stored in several homes across several branches of the family. They may hold letters, photographs, journals, newspaper […]
Preserving Private Family Collections – A Case Study
Prefer text? Read on. Want a graphic option? Download the Case Study Turning Overwhelming Family Materials into an Accessible Legacy BACKGROUND Private family collections represent far more than boxes of photographs, letters, documents, and artifacts. They hold the relationships, memories, accomplishments, and personal stories that shape a family’s understanding of its past. For many families, […]
Letters from Saipan: A Family Story Preserved Across Generations
“You have these tapes in your head about your relationship with your parents from when you were a kid… at least for me, it was helpful to update those tapes with a different relationship.”—Michael Dorsey By Client Executive Marcia Spicer Michael Dorsey’s family story begins with a stack of wartime letters—hundreds of them—written by his […]
How Does Your Family Collection Connect to America’s 250th Birthday?
By Client Executive Marcia Spicer A National Milestone Meets Personal History The 250th anniversary of American independence invites big public reflection, but it also creates space for quieter, deeply personal questions. How did your family experience the sweep of American history? What did they save, record, pass down, or leave behind? A box of photographs, […]
Roots of Resilience: Why Family History Matters More Than You Think
By Christopher Morton, Archival Operations Coordinator The Stories That Shape Us One thing every family we work with at Anderson Archival has in common is a deep respect for their history. Their intention in partnering with us is clear: to preserve and share their stories with current and future generations. Too often, this understanding of […]
The Regan Miranda Hockenberry Collected Papers
“I was thrilled to find you and I was even more thrilled to realize that there actually was a compassionate institution on the other end. That’s what I’m interested in showcasing.” —John Hockenberry on why he agreed to an interview about this project. Preserving the creative legacy of a daughter John reached out to Anderson […]
Everlasting Ti Amo: A New Chapter in the Pasetti Family Archive
This post continues the story we began in one of our most popular blogs, Italian Love Letters Preserved—a tribute to the enduring love between Armando and Evelina Pasetti, captured in hundreds of handwritten letters. We recently sat down to catch up with Carla Pasetti. In our conversation, we explored how this archival journey has evolved into […]
Legacy As the Backbone of Your Family Business
By Archival Specialist Chris K. Morton At Anderson Archival, legacy is lived daily. As a family-owned business, our values are passed on not through policy, but through close collaboration with both founders and second-generation leadership. In family enterprises, legacy isn’t just sentimental, it’s a strategic asset. This isn’t unique to us. Across industries, legacy plays […]
Ways Your Collection Can Bite the Dust
Preserving history is valuable, especially for a company over 100 years old owned by the same family. MLC, formerly known as Mississippi Lime Company, embarked on a journey to safeguard its corporate archives earlier this year. The story begins with MLC’s decision to expand their headquarters office in St. Louis. In the process, they had […]
Preserving a Personal FBI History
Heirloom books capture family legacy for the future James Fletcher Thompson, an attorney in South Carolina, was looking for a solution. He and his sisters knew what the end result should look like: heirloom books they could spend time with and pass on to future generations. But how to get there? Last month, he sat […]